


Maria's Adventures: The City of Water

by CrossingTheFourthWall



Series: Maria's Adventures [13]
Category: One Piece
Genre: Amnesia, Gen, Maria has a second run-in with memory loss, hijacking the plot don't mind me, shenanigans ensue
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-10-02
Updated: 2017-10-12
Packaged: 2019-01-08 00:05:51
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 58
Words: 232,671
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12243237
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CrossingTheFourthWall/pseuds/CrossingTheFourthWall
Summary: When the Straw Hats arrive in Water 7 to have their ship repaired, they come across a girl who likes to hang out in Dock 1 with Paulie. It seems she has amnesia, and strong abilities of her own....





	1. A Normal Day in Dock 1...Not

**Author's Note:**

> I've had this one posted to FF for...2 years now! Wow, it's been a while since I looked at this one. But that might be a good thing, because otherwise I'm pretty sure you people would be thinking I'm insane for how many chapters I'm going to put up here for the next leg of Maria's travels across the multiverse. Believe me when I say that this kid's going to be getting /really/ involved.

The docks were in a commotion again.

It wasn't exactly uncommon, but the noise was often loud enough to attract crowds and cause sea birds to fly off from their nests in order to avoid the inevitable attack from a flying log or a sword released from an attacker's grip. Anyone who was anyone knew that this was because the shipwrights were taking care of someone--usually a pirate--who wouldn't pay for repairs. The medical bills were usually higher than the repairs to the ship, and that was saying something for the stupidity of those involved.

It was the noise of the fight that awoke a figure sleeping with her back against the wall of a nearby building.

"Hmmm?" The figure's head shifted, and a hand reached up and adjusted a red and orange baseball cap as the figure looked over in the direction of the clanging noise, which was starting to die down. "Another fight? What's with these people?"

The figure started to get to her feet, dusting off the sleeves of her orange jacket before moving to the red shirt underneath and her blue jeans. Glancing over in the direction of the docks, she sighed and shook her head. "I was hoping for a better wake-up call than that. At least it didn't interrupt anything important."

The figure scratched the back of her head before stepping out of her sleeping place and into the light. Brown hair and blue eyes sparkled as the sunlight reflected off them, and the figure blinked a few times as her eyes adjusted. "I should probably get out of here before the less friendly shipwrights catch sight of me and try to accuse me of trespassing or something...."

The figure, now revealed to be a teenage girl, quickly moved along the stone pathway and jumped over a low, wooden fence at the end of the path. She came out on the outside of one of the docks and walked over to an ever-growing crowd of people, each one gawking at a different member of the docks with admiration...or something more, depending on whether or not you were a girl gawking at a shipwright's muscles.

"What happened?" the teenager asked, looking over at one of the people standing there.

"Another pirate refused to pay the price for getting their ship fixed up," the man replied, grinning as he turned to look at her. "Well, they paid the price for not paying, all right."

"Oh." The teenager's blue eyes darkened as she frowned. "But, why wouldn't they pay with cash? I mean, they got their ship fixed by the best, didn't they?"

"Pirates are always like that, trying to take things without paying for them," the other replied carelessly. "Everybody knows that."

"Well, I kinda don't...." The girl rubbed the back of her head in slight embarrassment. "I'm still trying to relearn a lot."

The man's eyes widened slightly. "Oh, hey -- you're that kid who's always hanging around here. The amnesiac Maria, right?"

The girl nodded. "Yeah, that's me." The now-named teenager let out a sigh. "I just wish my memories would come back already. It's been a week, and I've only got bits and pieces of random stuff."

"Just give it some time, kiddo. You'll probably remember sooner or later." The man grinned. "Maybe there's someone here in the docks who'll recognize you. I mean, people come from all over the world in order to get their ships repaired at the famous Water 7 docks by our shipwrights."

"Maybe. But the only lead I've got is a blue flash and that storm that happened when I got here...and then all the weird stuff that I can hardly remember." Maria sighed. "And everyone we've tried so far just ends up saying they don't know me, much less heard of me."

"Hey, keep your chin up. At least you've remembered some stuff, right?"

Maria paused for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "Right." A slight smile started to spread across her face. "Maybe I'll find someone today who knows me. I'll go and start looking around now." With that, the teenager turned and started running off down the street towards a dock entrance.

"Hey, Maria!"

The girl came skidding to a halt, and she partially turned and looked back upon hearing the voice. Catching sight of a familiar man with large, orange goggles and a blue jacket, Maria turned around completely and gave a grin. "Hi, Paulie. What's up?"

"You weren't sleeping in the docks again, were you?" the blond-haired man asked, smirking around his cigar.

"Uh....um...." Maria rubbed the back of her head sheepishly. "What makes you ask that?"

"Well, I haven't seen you all morning, and having you only appear now made me think that's what happened."

Maria gained a nervous expression and sighed, her shoulders sagging. "Sorry...I was really tired after asking around last night, I guess I just fell asleep. That's all."

"You've been saying that for the past two nights, Maria." Paulie gained a serious expression on his face. "Can't you find another place to sleep? You never know who might find you in the docks at night and catch you unawares."

"I can't help but shake the feeling that I'll have an even worse chance of that out in the city," Maria replied, motioning to the path behind her. "That's why I always sleep in the docks. Something else has been bothering me, too, though."

"Oh? And what's that?" Paulie crossed his arms over his chest and looked at the blue-eyed teenager expectantly. "Don't tell me you want to become a shipwright."

"Hmmm....." A frown crossed Maria's face, but then she shook her head. "No, that's not it at all. I just feel lost every time I see you guys working. But...it's like something's telling me I have to move on--get out of the city and, I dunno, explore the world or something. Maybe I'd get my memories back faster that way."

"Well, I doubt that anyone would want to take on an amnesiac kid who doesn't even know if she can be useful on a ship." Paulie sighed hand shook his head. "Tell you what, how about you hang around Dock 1 for the day and watch what's going on? Maybe you'll find something that you can do to earn yourself some Beris and find an actual place to stay."

"You'd let me do that?"

"Anything to keep you out of trouble." He motioned for the teenager to follow him. "Come on. I'm sure you can stay out of trouble for one day."

Maria gave a slight nod, then followed after the shipwright. The two soon reached Dock 1 and jumped over the short fence as the crowd started to slowly disperse.

"You know, you don't have to actually help me," Maria pointed out, frowning as she followed Paulie through the shipyard. She looked around occasionally at all the shipwrights that were running around working on different ships that were being built. "Not very many people around here seem to think that I'm much of a help to anybody at all."

"Well, I happen to like girls who are modest, and you sitting around or wandering around the docks isn't going to help us out too much." Paulie glanced back at the girl, one hand drifting to the cigar in his mouth. He pulled it out and released a puff of smoke before continuing, "Besides, the sooner you get your memories back, the better. If you can help us out and end up running into someone who knows you, then you'll be able to get off our hands sooner rather than later."

Maria's frown deepened a little, and she absentmindedly adjusted her baseball cap. "I can't help but wonder if you've got some hidden motive or something."

Paulie stopped and looked back at the teenager before giving her a grin. "Relax, will ya? I'm just trying to help. And if we do, it'll get you off our backs so we don't have to worry about accidentally taking you out when some disgruntled customers come into town."

Maria blinked in confusion for a moment, and she cocked her head to one side before giving a grin. "All right. Thanks. Maybe I can do something to help you out in return."

"Help me? What would an amnesiac like you be able to do around here?" Paulie gave the teenager a skeptical look as he stuck the cigar back in his mouth.

Maria frowned again. "Well, you told me that I should learn something here, right? What makes you think I won't be able to learn from you?"

The blond shipwright gave a sigh of annoyance and ran a hand through his slicked-back hair. "All right, all right. Come on, I'll show you what you can do." He turned and started through the shipyard again, the brown-haired teenager following close behind.

It wasn't too long before they reached a large log, still covered in bark.

"I think you can start with removing the outer layer of bark," Paulie directed, motioning to the log. "If you need any help getting it off, don't be afraid to shout."

"Do you use the bark?" Maria asked, frowning.

"Don't worry about it for now." Paulie waved her question off. "I'll come back and check in on you later. There's something else that I gotta go do."

Maria's frown turned into a look of blank confusion. "Um...okay? See you later, I guess?" Her blue eyes blinked a couple times as she watched Paulie turn and saunter off, taking another chance to let the smoke puff out of his mouth.

Maria returned her attention to the log and did her best to push her brown hair back around her ears, but some of it still fell down around her face as she looked for a grip underneath the bark. A slight yank brought up only a small sliver of bark--not even enough to reveal the wood underneath.

The blue-eyed girl let out a sigh of annoyance, making a face as she dropped the piece of bark next to her. "Looks like this is going to take me a while...."

**Time Break**

Maria hadn't even managed to clear out a quarter of the bark by the time the Dock 1 doors opened up later that morning. She looked up and turned to look at the opening doors, blinking in confusion while she cocked her head to one side. The amnesiac caught sight of Paulie standing there with a look of annoyance on his face and appearing somewhat ruffled, as well as one of the other shipwrights--the black-haired man with the top hat and the white bird. And then there was another man with blue hair and a striped suit standing there with a women in a short skirt...and three people that didn't look at all like people from town.

The blue-eyed girl dropped the piece of bark that she had just yanked out and turned to give the three newcomers a closer look.

There was a well-tanned, black-haired teenager with a green-brown bandanna wrapped around his head and a long nose...a girl with bright orange hair and a blue tank top with a white skirt...and a black-haired boy with a red button-up vest, blue shorts, sandals, and a straw hat.

Maria frowned slightly. "Those three...I don't know them, but...."

Her vision started to blur a little, and Maria started blinking rapidly, but her vision didn't clear. Instead, it only got worse. About a minute later, her vision had gone black.

Gradually, her vision started to return, but to a different place: out at sea, on some sort of ship that Maria couldn't identify...and it sounded like people were having a party. The loudest voice caused a picture to appear in front of the ship...and it was of the black-haired boy with the straw hat, and he had a large grin on his face that looked like it was overtaking his head.

Maria's vision blurred again, and she found herself standing back in the shipyard, breathing heavily and blinking rapidly.

 _What_ was _that?_

Maria couldn't believe what she had just seen.... What did a ship and the boy with the straw hat mean? And why did she have to get a vision of that ship and it's partying crew members _now?_

Speaking of....

Maria quickly glanced around, searching for the group that had come in from the front entrance to Dock 1. She soon found them sitting near a pile of logs waiting to be cut...or have the bark sheared off, the teenager wasn't exactly sure. They were missing the long-nosed, deeply-tanned boy in the brown overalls, but the other two newcomers were there, as well as the long, square-nosed young man with the white baseball cap and an orange and blue jacket. It looked like the lot of them were talking about something.

Curious, Maria moved over to them and snuck around behind the pile of logs in order to hear what was going on.

"So, how much money do you think the repairs are going to cost?" the boy with the straw hat asked as Maria crept up to the top of the log pile. She watched as he tapped each of the three black suitcases in front of him as he continued, "We've got plenty of money to spend, and no price is too high for our _Merry_." The black-haired teenager laughed.

 _Merry?_ Maria cocked her head in slight confusion while the square-nosed man sat down on the lowest level of lumber. _The only reason they'd probably be here is to repair a ship...but what would someone who looks about my age be doing with one? And how much money does he have if he's not worried about the cost?_

If there was one thing Maria knew from hanging around the docks, it was that these shipwrights weren't cheap.

"And while you're at it, why don't you make her stronger, faster, as tough as nails, and of course, decked out with cannons!" The straw hat grinned.

Maria looked down at the white baseball cap, blinking as she took in the man's sitting posture. His head was bent slightly, and it looked like he was weighed down by something. She knew that he was one of the foreman of Dock 1 like Paulie, who was standing nearby, but she'd never really bothered to learn his or the others' names for one reason or another--mainly because none of them except for Paulie had come up to her and said hello or anything else.

All the same, something told her that the posture of the unnamed foreman was bad news.

"I'd like pretty engravings or some sort of decoration along the hull," the orange-haired girl spoke up. "Also, could you guys renovate the inside?"

Maria noticed her short skirt and mentally snickered. Paulie must've had a conniption fit when he'd caught sight of _that_. While she didn't know him well, she'd watched him react to women hanging around the entrance looking for shipwrights to fan over, and he was always scolding them for their skirt length.

The brown-haired girl was glad that she was able to get close enough to him as she was, considering that she wore jeans and refused to go out and find skirts like the other girls were wearing.

"Oh, and a big statue, too!" the straw hat added, grinning. "When I say big, I mean _huge!"_ He lifted his arms high above his head as though that was proof of its size. "Kay?"

Maria quietly snorted. What good would a statue be on a ship?

The blue-eyed teen noticed the long-nosed foreman moving then, and she shifted down a little to stay more out of sight. She pulled down on the brim of her red and orange baseball cap when a beam of sunlight hit her eyes, and she listened to the conversation for the foremen's reactions.

"Not so fast," the long-nosed foreman stated.

Something in his tone caused the excited looks to disappear from the orange-haired girl's and straw hat's faces, and a frown came over Maria's face.

"That ship of yours...she's gone on some pretty extraordinary journeys, hasn't she?"

Maria blinked. _That foreman can tell? That's pretty cool. I wonder what kind of journeys their ship has been on?_

The orange-haired girl blinked, looking somewhat befuddled. "Uh..."

Straw hat moved forward and raised an arm in the air, his sandaled feet slapping against the stone. "Yeah, you bet! We've done it all! A while back we flew in the sky then fell back down--we climbed a mountain, too."

Maria's eyes widened. _Flew? A ship? Wow...I didn't think that was possible! And climbing a mountain? How does_ that _work?_

"So, you've gotta work hard to fix her up extra good, okay?" Straw hat looked extremely confident as he spoke.

 _With all those adventures, I have no doubt that Paulie and the others will be able to take care of your ship._ Maria gave the straw hat a grin, even though he couldn't see it considering how she was positioned. _I wonder what kind of crew he's a part of._

When none of the foremen said anything to the straw hat's statement, a frown came over his face.

"You don't think I'm lying, do you?" he asked.

"That's not the issue," the long-nosed foreman replied. He turned to look at the two teens. "Her battle scars are worse than you think."

The orange-haired girl blinked. "Um...then you're saying that it's going to take a long time for you to fix her?"

Maria shifted a little. _Something tells me there may be more to it than that...._

"No, ma'am," the long-nosed foreman replied. "It's not about the time. It's not about skill, either. I'm saying no one can fix her, not even us."

Maria's blue eyes widened. _What?_ She shifted to look out over the top of the log pile a little bit better, her expression shifting from confusion to concern. It sounded like they had been through a lot with the ship, but....

The two teenagers looked at the long-nosed foreman in shock. Meanwhile, Paulie moved from where he had been standing to sit down on the log pile. Maria pulled her head back a little so that he wouldn't see her there. He'd probably have her head for listening in like this.

Paulie took the cigar out of his mouth and blew smoke out. "So that means the keel is damaged, huh?" He looked over at the long-nosed foreman.

"That's right," the long-nosed foreman replied grimly. "It looks like it's taken a real wallop."

Maria blinked for a moment, then remembered what the straw hat had said.

_"We flew up in the sky then fell back down...."_

When they fell back down to the sea, did they do some major damage?

The orange-haired girl took a step forward. "No way! We...we've gone everywhere without any problems until now!"

 _It makes me wish that I was with you to experience them...and maybe have_ some _memories._ Maria let out a sigh of tired annoyance.

"In theory, even if we did everything we could, the probability of your ship lasting until the next island...is zero." The long-nosed foreman sounded grim and serious. Maria was sure he looked grim, too, but she wasn't about to look down in order to find out.

All she had to do was look at the grim look on the straw hat's face...and she understood. This ship meant a lot to them. Hearing that it couldn't be fixed...it probably meant even more.

Like losing a good friend...or worse.


	2. No Repairs?

"What? You can't fix the _Going Merry_?" Straw hat frowned. "Why not? I thought that all of you were supposed to be awesome shipwrights!"

 _They are,_ Maria thought, her eyebrows knitting together in a confused frown. The amnesiac bit her lower lip a little as her eyes remained glued to the black-haired teenager. _But something tells me a "broken keel"--whatever that is--is bad news._

"Don't worry about the money--we've got plenty," straw hat added, patting one of the black suitcases sitting upright in front of him.

"It's not about the money, son," the long-nosed foreman replied, getting the straw hat and the orange-haired girl to look over at him. Maria shifted her position behind the top of the log pile so that she could look more directly at the foreman.

"No matter how much you pay, that ship will never be restored to how she used to be," the foreman added. "To be honest, I'm impressed that you managed to get that old girl this far, considering the condition that she's currently in."

Straw hat's lower lip moved up as his face shifted. Maria wondered for a moment if he was about to cry upon hearing the news. His face was making her want to cry herself.

"What's that supposed to mean?" the orange-haired girl demanded. "What exactly is going on with the _Merry_?"

It wasn't the long-nosed foreman that answered her question--it was Paulie instead.

"Do you know what the keel is, immoral girl?" Paulie asked gruffly.

Maria bit her lower lip to keep herself from laughing.

"Immor--" the orange-haired teen stopped herself. "You mean that thing at the bottom of the boat?"

"Yeah. It's the most important piece of lumber on a ship. It crosses from stem to stern and provides support. When you build a ship, you start by placing the keel. Then you set the wood for the stem, the stern, and the frame, frame brackets and deck pieces. All the pieces are carefully assembled together, with the keel serving as the core. It's the very backbone, framework, and life of every ship ever constructed, and when it's severely damaged, then that's the end of it."

Maria inhaled a breath of air through her nose. She started to see now what their point was.

"You can't just replace it with a new one--that would be the same as building a new ship from scratch. And that's the reason that we, or anyone, won't be able to fix her. Your ship's just a bundle of wood stuck together, awaiting her end."

 _You don't have to be so harsh about it,_ Maria thought, frowning at the blond shipwright.

"Hey, you!" the orange-haired girl looked angry, now. "Don't say such horrible things!"

"Horrible or not, it's the truth," Paulie replied calmly. He leaned back against the log pile and shut his eyes.

The orange-haired girl looked strangely shell-shocked at the statement.

"Okay, fine, then!" straw hat spoke up suddenly. "Just rebuild her from ground up, like you said before! Build another _Going Merry_!"

The white bird on the black-haired man's shoulder spoke up suddenly, cooing before speaking. "Sorry, not possible."

"Why not?" straw hat responded, scowling.

 _Well, yeah, why not?_ Maria looked over at the black-haired man with the black top hat with a curious expression. _If I'm going to end up hanging around here doing stuff for Paulie, I may as well learn_ something _today._

"We could build you a very similar ship," the bird continued, "but no one can build you one that's exactly the same."

_Huh?_

"Nowhere are there two completely identical ships--it simply can't be done!"

"What do you mean?" the orange-haired girl asked. "Why?"

"Tell me, are there two trees in the world that grow exactly the same way?" the bird asked.

The girl's brown eyes widened.

"A sailing ship is mostly built out of lumber, so the shape and overall size of the ship is determined by the type of wood used. That's why an exact duplicate can't be built by us or anyone else, even if we use the same blueprints. If we made a ship like that with those specifications, the ones who would know the difference and feel that it's a completely different ship would be all of you guys!" The bird pointed a wing at the boy and the girl.

Maria cocked her head to one side, blinking as she took the bird's speech in. _I guess that makes sense...but it still feels odd to me, like I shouldn't really be here in order to learn all this stuff. Like...I'm not meant to be a shipwright or something._

"No way."

Maria looked up again, and saw that the orange-haired girl was clenching her fists and glaring at the foremen.

"So you're saying that it's absolutely impossible for us to continue sailing on the _Going Merry_?" the teenager demanded.

"Unfortunately, yes," the long-nosed foreman replied. "You can either wait around for her to sink...or dismantle her immediately."

"Well, your ship is on her last legs."

Maria shifted her gaze to the fancy-looking blue-haired man standing next to the official-looking woman...who also had a short skirt that probably cause Paulie to have another conniption fit.

"Why don't you look at this as an opportunity?" the man continued. "You happen to be in the best place to buy a new ship. You have money, right? I understand that your previous ship was a carabell. Sailing on an old ship like that on the Grand Line is difficult to being with."

"No way. We're not getting a new ship."

Maria turned her attention to the straw hat again, and took note that his eyes were shaded from the sun in such a way that she couldn't see his expression.

"Luffy...." the orange-haired girl muttered.

_Luffy? Is that the straw hat's name?_

"Merry is...The _Going Merry_ is the ship of the Straw Hat Pirates!" Luffy shifted his head so that he was glaring directly at each of the foremen and the others present. "If she's repaired, then she can still sail! She'll be fine, you'll see--and she brought us here today, didn't she?! And you tell us out of nowhere that she can't sail anymore?! I can't believe that! I won't!"

"Pirates?" Maria repeated in a soft whisper, blinking in shock. _These_ two were pirates? And the foremen were letting them in to take care of their repairs? Maybe it was because of all the cash they have....

Then again...it felt like these two were different from the others that had come in recently and caused the ruckus. Maria knew what pirates _were--_ one of the first few questions that had been asked of her when she had woken up was _"Was your ship attacked by pirates?"_

That's how they had discovered that she had amnesia.

"You guys are just saying that because you don't know her! You have no idea how strong she is!" Luffy has his eyes clenched tightly now, like he didn't want to look at the foremen's faces and believe the ugly truth that had been placed in front of him.

"Then your plan is to kept sailing her until she sinks?" the blue-haired man asked. Maria noticed with surprise that he was petting a white mouse that was stuck in his pocket, and she wondered what it was doing there....

The orange-haired girl turned to look at the blue-haired man and gave him a look of shock.

"I'm shocked."

Luffy turned his head to look at the man, as well.

"So, this is the decision ship's captain?" the blue-haired man asked somewhat coldly.

Maria stiffened a little as she looked over at the boy with the straw hat. _Luffy...he's the captain of the ship?_ She looked over at the orange-haired girl. _Then who's she?_

Luffy clenched his fists and bowed his head. Maria couldn't help but wonder if he was trembling.

"This discussion is over for now," the blue-haired man stated, bowing his own head. "Think about it. If you decide to buy a ship, let me know. My people can help. If you're able to spend three hundred million, we can build a state-of-the-art ship for you."

Maria felt like her heart had nearly stopped. _Three hundred million?!_

Because of her amnesia, she didn't know much about the currency that the world used, but just the number alone....

_Sheesh, what did these pirates do, raid a government safe or something?_

"Kalifa?" the blue-haired man turned to look at the woman next to him, and she pulled something out of the blue folder that she was carrying.

"Here, if you'd look this over, please," she stated. "It's a catalog of our new and our used models. Use it as a price reference."

"Hey, Iceberg!"

Maria shifted her gaze, and she caught sight of a muscular man with a tattoo on his chest and a spike of hair sticking out of his head coming towards them.

The blue-haired man turned to look over at the newcomer.

"There's someone at front gate who wants to see you," the man added. Maria quickly recognized him as one of the foreman of Dock 1.

Iceberg looked over at Kalifa, who looked down at her open blue folder.

"There doesn't seen to be anyone on your appointment schedule today," the woman stated.

"It looks like those World Government officials again," the newly arrived foreman added. "Should I tell them you're unavailable?"

"Well...yes, please. Say that I'm gone. By the way, Lulu, you've got quite a case of bed head."

Maria blinked in slight confusion. _Lulu? That sounds like a girl's name or something. And...World Government? Something about that sounds like bad news...._

"Oops. How embarrassing. My apologies." Lulu lifted a hand and pushed down on the spike that was sticking up out of his head...only for the spike of hair to come out on the other side of his head. "Anyway, I'll ask them to leave."

"Uh...thanks. I appreciate it."

Maria held back a snicker when she saw how the hair shifted. It seemed that Lulu was always having a problem with his hair.

"Hold it right there, Iceberg."

Maria shifted a little so that she could see the new voice and still keep out of sight. She felt the cloth that was covering the logs shift underneath her, yanking on the cloth on the other side of the pile. She prayed that nobody noticed it tighten, and instead concentrated on the three men in black suits approaching them.

There was a chuckle from the shortest of the three men. "Looks like you're here, after all."

"Hey, you two need to hide," Paulie stated to Luffy and the girl. He jabbed his thumb in the direction of the wood pile he was sitting on. "Government officials are here."

"What?" the orange-haired girl asked, befuddled. "Uh...okay." She and Luffy picked up the black suitcases that were in front of them, then carried them around to the side of the woodpile, far enough away from Maria that they wouldn't end up noticing her.

"And you."

Maria stiffened when she heard Paulie's voice.

"Get down from up there, you stupid girl. You're definitely going to get spotted up there."

"Oh! Uh...right."

Maria slid down to the ground and sat with her back against the logs. "Something tells me I'm in a lot of trouble."

"Well, hello again, Corgi," Iceberg stated. "As you can see, I'm not here today."

"Yes, you are. Come now, I came all the way here by Sea Train. Don't turn me away, it's impolite."

There was a strange pause for a moment, and then Corgi spoke up again.

"For some reason, I detect the scent of pirates." The man let out a short laugh. "Whatever. In any case, I want to talk to you."

"And I don't like you," Iceberg replied. "Go away."

Something in his voice made Maria want to laugh.

"Are you a child?"

"Nu-uh, I'm totally an adult."

 _That_ made Maria snort. She couldn't see the looks on their faces, but she knew for a fact that anyone who evaded these government-y people like _that_ was pretty cool in her book.

"Then start acting like one," Corgi growled. "There's something of special importance that I need to discuss with you. I would appreciate it if you would hear me out."

There was a pause for a moment, and then Corgi said something else.

"Come. Let's talk this over in private."

Maria listened as footsteps resounded on the ground, then she scrambled back up to the top of the woodpile. She caught sight of Luffy's and the orange-haired girl's heads move in order to follow her movements, but they said nothing.

"Those government guys are so damn persistent," Paulie growled around his cigar. "What the hell do they want with Iceberg, anyway?"

The white bird on one of the other foremen's shoulders let out a coo. "Look, it has nothing with us. Probably political stuff."

"Should I beat them up?" Lulu asked, rubbing his head.

"I wouldn't," the long-nosed foreman replied. "I mean, they're government guys, after all."

Paulie gave a nod, then reached up and grabbed a hold of Maria's orange jacket sleeve, catching the teen by surprise. "But as for you, if you don't go back and keep doing what I told you to do, there's going to be hell to pay."

"Eep!" Maria yelped in surprise as she was suddenly dragged down the log pile and landed on the ground, her face in the dirt.

"Paulie, what's this girl doing here?" square-nose asked, frowning.

"The kid wanted something to do, so I gave her something to do." Paulie shrugged as Maria started to get to her feet, spitting out dirt. "It's better than her bothering the customers or sleeping in the docks when we don't know she's there."

"You've been sleeping here?"

"Like I have anywhere else to go...." Maria dusted off her jacket sleeves, then attacked her pants. "I mean, I don't know anybody here in the city except for Paulie, and nobody's come up and said that they recognize me...."

"Hold on." The square-nosed foreman frowned. "Are you saying that you're that girl with amnesia that we were told about?"

"Uh...heh heh." Maria grinned sheepishly and rubbed the back of her head. "Maybe?"

Before anyone could say anything else, there came a loud, girlish scream from behind the woodpile. It was in unison with a boy's scream -- Luffy and the orange-haired girl, maybe?

Paulie let out a growl of annoyance and quickly moved off the log pile in order to see what was going on. "Idiots! What the hell are you--" He cut himself short and pointed at something that Maria couldn't see. "Hey, lady, if you sit like that everyone can see your--"

"Don't tell me...there's no way...."

Maria blinked in confusion, then looked around the woodpile herself in order to see what was going on.

The orange-haired girl and Luffy were staring at two open suitcases and were moving nervously towards them. It was obvious that they didn't like what was there and were nervous about looking again.

"I don't wanna look...." Luffy said, his voice wavering as he and the girl peered over into the open suitcases...

...which Maria saw were completely empty and looked like they had been patched up a few times on the inside.

 _Well, there goes some of_ that _cash...._

"Two hundred million!" Luffy yelled.

"Gone! It's really gone!" the orange-haired girl wailed. She looked down at the suitcases again. "Wait--look at these bags! They aren't even ours!"

The two pirate teenagers started wailing again.

The man with the top hat and the bird stepped around the wood pile in order to look at the two wailing sources of the screams.

"Hey hey!" the bird exclaimed. "Keep it down. What's wrong?"

"Our money...our money is gone," Luffy moaned.

"Vanished...gone...disappeared," the orange-haired girl added.

"What?" Paulie sounded--and looked--like he couldn't believe his ears.

"How is that even possible?" Maria muttered, frowning. "Money doesn't just disappear like that."

"Paulie, was it you again?" the bird asked, pointing a wing at the blond shipwright.

"Huh? No!"

"Honest?"

"Why would I lie?"

"You mean it?"

"Yes, I mean it!"

Maria could tell that Paulie and the bird were starting to get irritated, but she figured she wouldn't be able to do anything about it, so she just sighed and shook her head. "Well, isn't this just great--sounds like there are thieves hanging around here somewhere."

"Hey, Kaku, were you hanging around the Franky Family today?"

Maria's blue eyes blinked in confusion, and she looked back at Lulu. "Franky Family?"

The square-nosed foreman looked up at Lulu. "The Franky Family? I haven't been anywhere near them today."

"Well, that's funny, because I'm sure that I saw your long nose."

"Whoa whoa, hang on a sec!" The orange-haired girl scrambled out from behind the wood pile, Luffy following after her.

"That's Usopp!" Luffy exclaimed, sounding worried.

"You saw him with the Franky Family?" the orange-haired girl asked, alarmed.

"Well, maybe you could say he was with them, or you could say that he was being dragged away." Lulu pushed down on a spike that had come out of his head...and it came out in his mustache.

"That's called kidnapping!" The orange-haired girl turned to look at Luffy. "Luffy, we've got to find him."

As if she had spoken the magic words, Luffy suddenly turned and took off into the docks, one hand sitting on top of his head in order to keep his straw hat in place. The black-haired teenager left quite the cloud of dust behind him.

Maria's eyes widened in surprise. "Whoa, he's fast!"

"Hey, hold on! Where are you going to look?!" the orange-haired girl called after the pirate.

"Wait for me, Usopp! Wait for me, money! I'm coming!" Luffy dashed out of the Dock 1 gate without looking back.

The orange-haired girl let out a sigh, then turned to look at Paulie and Maria. "Hey, where can I find the Franky Family's hideout?"

"It's not really a hideout," Paulie replied. "It's more like a workshop. From where your ship is docked, it's way up the seashore to the northeast. It's off by itself--you can't miss it. It's called the Franky House."

The orange-haired girl gave a nod in thanks, then turned and ran off.

"I'm going to go help them." Maria started to run forward, but Paulie grabbed her by the collar of her shirt, pulling her back.

"Oh no, you don't," the blond shipwright growled. "You're staying here and getting that job of yours done like I asked you to."

"But they need help!" Maria turned to glare up at Paulie and motioned towards the open gate. "Those Franky Family people could have hurt their friend really badly, and I want to be able to help them make sure he's all right."

"You're not a nurse, kid," Paulie growled in reply. He placed his hands on Maria's shoulders. "Listen, this is their fight to get into, not yours. I know you haven't really done much with the rest of the people of Water 7, but here's the main thing: the Franky Family go after pirates and make sure to steal their gold and whatever else they have on them, then go after them for their bounties. If they find out that you're going to help the Strawhats, then you're going to be mistaken for a pirate, too."

Maria shook the shipwright's hands off. "That doesn't give them the right to steal something that would have gone into the city eventually--that's how much they were willing to put in for their ship. They're not like the other pirates that were here earlier!"

The white bird on the unnamed foreman's shoulder cooed. "That may be, but that doesn't mean we can really get involved. The Franky Family would probably kill you if you got into a fight with them, considering that you probably don't know or remember how to fight."

"But that doesn't mean that I have to stand by!" Maria let out a growl and clenched her fists. "There's something in me that's screaming at me to go and help them, and I want to!" She turned and started towards the gate again, but Kaku quickly moved to stand in her way.

"Maria, even if you were able to help them, you don't know how much of a help you would be," the square-nosed foreman stated. "Go and do what Paulie asked you to do, and trust that the pirates will be able to find their friend in time."

Maria scowled, her eyes darkening. "All right. Fine." She turned and stomped off towards her work station, leaving the foremen to stand there watching her go.

"Kid's got spirit," Lulu noted.

"Yes, but I doubt she'll be able to put it to good use in the shipyards," Kaku intoned. "Keep an eye on her, Paulie. She's under your jurisdiction now--you know that."

The blond shipwright nodded. "Yup. Let's just hope that amnesia of hers doesn't cause her to get into any trouble. I mean, the kid doesn't remember _anything_ about how our world works. She's going to pay for that big time someday if we don't find someone who might be able to get her memories back, and soon."


	3. The Doctor and the Long Nose

It was pretty late in that afternoon by the time Paulie finally let Maria stop shaving the bark off of tree logs.

"Not bad for your first day," the blond shipwright noted, looking at the five logs and piles of bark next to each. "I didn't even think you'd get two done." He glanced sidelong at Maria, who had her arms crossed over her chest in an attempt to keep them tiredly supported. As it was, she was only breathing heavily, and didn't exactly look dead on her feet. Maria didn't even look like she was _sweating_.

"It wasn't so bad, I guess," Maria commented, smiling up at the shipwright. "But it doesn't exactly _feel_ like something I want to do for the rest of my life." The smile faded slightly at the corners of her mouth.

"Well, that'd probably be your memory talking." Paulie dug his hands into the pockets of his dark blue pants, then paused. His eyes widened. "Oh, shoot."

Maria frowned. "What is it?"

"I don't have any Beris to pay ya with. I must've spent it all already."

"More like gambled it," the amnesiac grumbled under her breath.

Paulie shot Maria a dark look, and she scowled back at him, as if to say, "Well, it's true."

The shipwright snorted and rolled his eyes. "I'll get the money to you later, I promise. For now, though, you're just gonna have to go Beri-less."

Maria gave a dejected sigh. "All right. I've kind of been living like that for the past week, anyway. I was really looking forward to having an actual bed, though...."

"Well, tough luck." Paulie took the cigar out of his mouth and released a good puff of smoke. "By the way, Kaku and the others set up a patrol system for the night shift of shipwrights. You'd better find some other place to sleep tonight."

The brown-haired teen turned sharply to look at Paulie in shock. "What?! But--"

"No buts, kid. You're going to have to find somewhere else to be. If you don't want to sleep in the alleys, find a roof instead."

Maria blinked in confusion. "A roof? How do you expect me to get on a roof?"

"I dunno. Jump?" Paulie grinned mischievously around his cigar, but the grin soon faded into a serious expression. "You'd better get going while there's still daylight, Maria. You'll have an easier time finding a place to sleep now rather than after the sun sets."

Maria let out a sigh, then dropped her arms to her sides. "All right, all right. I'll get going." The amnesiac turned towards the Dock 1 entrance and pulled her red and orange baseball cap down a little further to shield her eyes from the afternoon sun, which was getting pretty close to the horizon. As she walked, she also grabbed the zipper of her orange jacket and zipped up the article of clothing about halfway, leaving the red shirt underneath still visible.

Maria stuck her hands in the pockets of her jeans while she marched out the Dock 1 entrance and down along the path that led deeper into Water 7, rather than out into the water. There were a few buildings up by the docks, but most of the people had gone out to be social. This was one of the first things that the amnesiac had learned when she had been released from the medical ward and led to the docks not long after the doctors had discovered her mental condition.

The doctors had intended for Maria to make this a regular trip while being kept partially sedated with pills that were intended to help, but the teen had simply found the pills to be a nuisance rather than a good way to nap. The brown-haired girl had slipped away as soon as the chance was given right on the first day of the intended route, and the shipwrights had kept the doctors from looking for her. Now, Maria was free and on her own.

A sour look crossed Maria's face when she realized that staying with the doctors might have also meant free room and board. And food -- one mustn't forget food. It unnerved Maria enough that she wasn't hungry _at all_ , and hadn't been since she had started sleeping in the docks on her own.

"Don't think about that now," Maria scolded herself aloud. "I have to find a safe place to sleep without getting jumped--and without the stupid pills that got flushed out of my system fifteen minutes later."

The teen soon arrived at a dead end -- well, a dead end for the sidewalk, at least. Water 7 was filled with more canals than actual roads -- considering that it was named the City of _Water_ by the rest of the world -- so it was more difficult to walk through the city than it was to take a boat.

Or swim.

Maria looked back and forth along the intersection of water, checking for passing yagaras -- small, friendly horse monsters that carried boat-like saddles for people on their backs -- before diving into the water and swimming over to another pathway. She climbed up with practiced ease, then took her hat off and squeezed to remove as much water as she could before putting it back on and continuing forward.

Maria smiled knowingly as she walked down the street, her clothes drying a little in the sea breeze that blew through the city. No one thought that an amnesiac would be able to discover -- or rather, _rediscover_ \-- how to swim mere hours after waking up in the aftermath of a storm. Especially when she had been _in_ it.

It didn't take Maria took long before she reached the water elevator that took people and yagaras down to the shopping district and backstreets of Water 7. Since the medical ward of the city had been place _extremely_ close to the docks (simply for the sake of accidents or attacks on unruly customers), Maria had never actually managed to make it this far into the city.

"OK...it's now or never." Maria swung her arms back and forth a few times, then dove into the canal and swam for the water elevator, keeping her head low in order to avoid anyone's line of sight and raise questions. She even went under and came back up a few times as she passed into the stone tower that held the elevator.

"Aren't you going to tire yourself our, swimming like that all over the place?"

Maria stiffened upon hearing the young, boyish voice, then looked up to her right. Sitting in a boat on a green yagara was a large, shirtless, muscular man with a pink top hat with a large white "X" on the front. He clearly looked like he had been in the sun for quite some time, but he also looked somewhat odd: it looked like there was fur on his shoulders, and the man's blue nose drew Maria's attention before anything else.

Maria blinked, slightly confused by the man's appearance. "Uh...I actually haven't been able to swim all that much ever since I got here, and I don't have a yagara to get around."

The elevator doors closed behind them, and the water started to descend, Maria kept treading water, but she could feel the water level moving and noticed that her kicks were starting to slow. It felt almost as if her limbs were made of iron.

"I could give you a ride," the boyish voice spoke again. Maria looked up at the blue-nosed man as he added, "I'm looking for someone, but I don't know where he is. He kinda ran off before I could treat his injuries again."

Maria frowned. "You're a doctor?" Her tone was suddenly suspicious. The only doctors _she_ knew of were the ones who had tried to solve her memory problem with pills.

"I am. I'm a...a ship crew's doctor."

Maria took note of the hesitation, but really didn't pay it any attention. Instead, she relaxed slightly. "Then this person you're looking for -- is he a part of your crew?"

The innocent question actually hit the man pretty hard, and his expression became almost uncertain. "Well...he was. But a doctor has to take care of any injured patient, no matter what, and he was hurt pretty badly, so...."

"Oh." Maria's face fell. The fact alone that someone left the crew seemed to hit the man pretty hard. Maybe she shouldn't bother him.....

A large, brown hand came in front of Maria's face, and she turned her blue eyes to look up at the muscular doctor in confusion.

"Come on," the man stated with a gently smile. "I'm not about to let someone faint from exhaustion, either."

Maria blinked for a moment, then gave a smile of her own and nodded. Then she reached up and grabbed the man's arm with both hands, and the amnesiac found herself lifted into the yagara boat with a slight grunt from the muscular doctor.

"You're actually heavier than I expected," the man noted, glancing back while Maria relaxed into the open seat of the yagara boat.

"And you're pretty strong," Maria noted, surprised herself. "I didn't think that a doctor could be so muscular. What kind of crew are you on?"

The doctor blinked, then turned his head when the elevator doors opened. Maria noticed that the sky had already started to change colors -- she had left the docks when the sky was still a clear blue. Had she really been walking and swimming long enough for the sun to start setting without her notice?

"My crew's...different," the doctor stated, catching Maria's attention. "We're small, and...and we get into a lot of trouble, so everybody's got to be able to fight in some way."

"Really? You must be on a lot of people's bad sides, then." Maria looked up and down the canal with no small amount of awe; there were certainly a lot of shops around here!

Noticing the doctor stiffen up, Maria turned her attention to the yagara's driver and added quickly, "S-sorry if I seem heartless. I got washed up here last week without my memories, so I'm kind of...relearning things."

The doctor looked back, eyes wide in surprise. "You lost your memory?" he asked.

Now Maria was starting to feel cautious again. "They're kind of coming back every night or so, but I haven't been able to remember where I came from or why I was even near Water 7 in the first place. Doctors have tried to cure me, but none of the stuff really helped. The shipwrights have been keeping them off my back the past few days, and I can say that I've gotten more memories back without them than with them."

For a few moments, neither one of the two said anything, the doctor remaining hunched over in his seat with the yagara's reins in his hands. Maria simply kept her eyes trained on his back in case he did anything.

"Memories aren't something that can come back by force," the doctor finally noted, glancing back at Maria. "You were right in leaving them."

"I--wait, you're not going to try to jog my memory with anything?"

The man shook his head. "There really isn't anything I can do, especially after having experienced temporary amnesia myself."

Maria's blue eyes widened. "You had amnesia?"

"Some time ago, yes--the entire crew, in fact. Luckily, our captain made sure that we got our memories back." The doctor chuckled. "He's pretty awesome."

Maria gave a ghost of a smile. "Sounds like it. You must be pretty lucky to have a captain like him."

The doctor seemed like he was about to respond, but then he gain a weird look on his face while his blue nose twitched. Then his head turned so sharply that Maria thought his pink top hat would have come off and dropped into the canal.

The muscular man let out a gasp, looking somewhere to his right. "There he is!"

Maria blinked in confusion, then started to look up and down the right side of the canal. "There who is?"

"My frie--I mean, my patient." The doctor brought the green yagara to a wooden post on the right side of the canal, then jumped out and tied the sea animal to the post before grabbing a small, blue backpack from where he had been sitting a minute ago. "C-could you wait there for a little bit? I'll probably be a while, but --"

"Sure, no problem." Maria propped her feet up on the front seat of the boat and leaned against the back of her own chair, her hands behind her head. "I'll guard your yagara until you get back." She closed her eyes, then opened one blue orb and gave a slight smile.

"Thanks!"

The large man turned and ran off, backpack gripped in one large hand as the teen closed her eye again. Maria found it strange that such a large doctor would carry around such a small bag of medical materials, but decided to pay it no mind. After all, she knew nothing about medicine...at least, that she could _remember_.

While Maria's eyes remained closed, the blackness of her vision seemed to being to wary and fold in on itself. Colors began to fade in as the blackness faded out, turning into a landscape of strangely-shaped buildings that looked like the heads of strange creatures.

_ A yellow, mouse-like creature with a thunderbolt-shaped tail was standing next to Maria, who only came up to the mouse's shoulder. _

_ "This is Treasure Town," the yellow mouse explained in boyish tones. "This place is where Exploration teams of all kinds--" _

The vision was interrupted by the sound of someone sniffling.

Annoyed at having the strange scene cut short, Maria opened one eye, then the other when she saw who was approaching.

The doctor had come back to the yagara, and it looked like there were tears attempting to leak out of his eyes. Maria found herself somewhat grossed out, as well, seeing as his nose was starting to run along with his eyes.

"What happened?" Maria asked, removing her feet from the back of the front seat and maneuvering herself into a more upright position.

"He...he didn't let me treat him." The doctor sniffled. "And he's still badly hurt from....." He trailed off uncertainly, but Maria didn't pay it any heed--after all, it wasn't her business how the guy got hurt.

All the same, the teen did feel her heart wrench, and she gave a frown. Something was...flickering at the corner of her mind. A flash of red and white...a gruff tone of voice and an equally grumpy bedside manner....

The thought was gone in an instant, and Maria decided that she needed to say something.

"Maybe you're not gruff enough with your bedside manner," the blue-eyed teen suggested. "Maybe you should...I dunno, hit him over the head with something to get your point across."

The muscular man blinked for a second, probably surprised that Maria would suggest such a thing. "Hit him over the head...." A frown came over his face, and he shook his head. "I couldn't do that. While it would provide good anesthesia, it wouldn't make for a good bedside manner, and I don't want to be known for that."

Again, Maria saw a flash of red and white, but it was gone before she could identify what it was.

"Now that that's taken care of...where was it that you were headed?"

She was jolted out of her thoughts by the doctor's boyish voice. She looked up at him with some confusion, then shook here head to clear it of whatever thoughts remained of the red and white flash.

"Since I'm probably from...out of town somewhere, I don't exactly have a permanent place to stay," Maria explained. "I was planning on finding my way up to a rooftop and sleeping there. It'd be better than some alleyway, anyway, and I don't have the money for a hotel room somewhere."

"You could come back to my crew's ship. I'm sure my captain wouldn't mind."

Maria shook her head again, then stood up and got out of the yagara. "I wouldn't want to trouble you guys. Besides, I like this city, and I like sleeping out under the stars. Nobody's probably going to go up there at night, so I should be all right."

The doctor looked hesitant at the idea of letting Maria go and wander off on her own, but he gave a reluctant nod. "If you say so. If you need anything, though, don't be afraid to come and find us. My crew's ship is out by the shipwright docks, so it shouldn't be too hard to find, as it's the only one out there."

"I'll keep that in mind. Thanks." Maria gave the muscular doctor a smile and a nod, then turned and walked up the street, looking up at the residential buildings and hotels as she went. It seemed that there weren't all that many people out at this time of evening, leaving the sunset to be admired by practically no one. Not that Maria minded -- after spending the past few days handing around the docks, the semblance of silence was a good change of pace.

"Now, how to get up on those rooftops...."

Maria scanned the sides of the buildings. Each one of them was made of stone, washed smooth from who knew how many waves crashing into them during storms. This meant that there were no handholds or footholds for anyone who wanted to climb up.

_ If I get inside and climb one of the buildings' stairs, then I could reach the roof, _ Maria decided. _But how to get in without anyone noticing...._

It was right then that Maria caught sight of someone who looked rather interesting: a teenage boy with a mass of black, curly hair underneath what looked like a bandanna of some sort...brown overalls...and bandages that seemed to go from his neck to some undisclosed location on his body. The blue-eyed amnesiac suspected that the bandages went all the way to his toes. He seemed to be walking well enough, but occasionally -- like now, at the base of the stairs of a hotel -- he would stop and grimace a little in pain before continuing forward.

Maria cocked her head slightly, blinking in confusion. _Is this the patient that one guy was talking about? He looks like he's hurt pretty badly...._

Maria watched him walk -- or rather, limp -- up the stairs and into the hotel. As he walked inside, an idea formed at the back of Maria's mind and brought itself forward.

Maria frowned quietly to herself, then sighed as her shoulders sagged. "Well, it's either an actual room with a roof over my head, or sneaking past and getting up on the roof of this place...." She bit gently down on her tongue as she thought, frowning. After a few moments, she nodded to herself, then started confidently up the stairs and into the lobby of the hotel.

The amnesiac stepped in just as the bandaged teen was moving away from the check-in counter. Maria found herself somewhat amazed that she hadn't caught sight of his long, bandaged nose sooner.

"Now or never...." Maria clenched her fists as though to steel herself, then walked over to the bandaged teen, taking in a breath in order to get the other's attention...and to also try to calm her nerves for a few seconds.

"Umm...excuse me?"

The tanned boy turned his head and looked over at Maria. He looked angry and determined, like there was something he had to do and he did _not_ want to be disturbed by anyone.

"What is it?" the boy asked, looking Maria over. The angry expression morphed into one that looked more like suspicion and caution -- something Maria was expecting a least a little bit of from the stranger.

"Um...I've been sleeping at the docks for the past few days, but one of the foremen came over and told me that I had to find another place to sleep, or else I'm going to end up getting caught, and who knows what's going to happen after that."

"And you expect me to do something about it?"

"Just let me sleep on your floor tonight, and I'll find another place tomorrow. That's all I ask. Please." Maria's eyebrows scrunched together in a look of concerned expectancy. She hoped that the boy would take some semblance of pity and let her stick around somewhere with a roof over her head -- otherwise, she'd be sleeping out in an alley at this point, and who knows what would happen to her then.

The teenager blinked for a moment, still scowling, but then sighed and shook his head. "All right, fine. Come on, it's this way." He turned and started up the stairs of the hotel. Maria quickly moved to follow behind him, but not so close that she was nearly running him over.

After climbing up a few flights, Maria decided to try and break the suppressing ice of silence.

"My name's Maria," she stated. "I've been in Water 7 for only a week."

The teenager glanced back at the girl and muttered something that Maria almost didn't catch.

"Usopp? That's a cool name." Maria smiled slightly. "I've been hearing a lot of cool names like that around here for the past few days."

Usopp blinked for a moment, then turned his head to look at the stairs and shook his head while muttering something else. He sounded grumpy, so Maria didn't press him. It was like the shipwrights at the docks--you didn't want to press them so far that they decided to hit you like they did the ungrateful pirates.

It wasn't too long before they reached a hotel room, and Usopp led Maria inside and slammed the door behind him.

"Make yourself comfortable, I guess," Usopp stated, motioning to the room. "Just don't try to disturb me, all right?" He sat down on the bed and started digging things out of the orangish bag that was hanging over one shoulder.

"Yeah, sure." Maria moved over to a corner of the room and sat down in it, crossing her legs and folding her arms across her chest as she made herself as comfortable as she could. "Besides Paulie and that strange doctor guy, you're probably the most helpful person I've come across after I woke up with amnesia."

Usopp looked up with surprise as he stated to pull strangely spiraled shells from his bag. "Amnesia?" A strange look came over his face. "What do you last remember?"

"A blue flash and getting tossed around like I was in a storm. After that, I woke up with a doctor standing over me asking if there was anyone else who might have survived the sinking of a ship...." Maria shrugged helplessly.

Usopp frowned. "You didn't hear like a horn or anything?"

Maria shook her head. "No, nothing like that." A frown came over her face, her eyes darkening. "Although, now that you mention it....I heard what sounded like...laughing. Just thinking about that sinister noise now sends chills down my spine." The teenager shuddered as the aforementioned cackle suddenly echoed in her mind. She hoped that there weren't any other memories that were going to make her shudder like that.

"Well, that takes the stupid seahorse out of the equation...." Usopp shook his head as the curious frown was replaced by a look of grim determination. "I wish I could help, but I have to do something tonight."

"It's all right. My memory is starting to come back in pieces anyway. It's just a matter of time before it all comes back." Maria let out a yawn. "Sorry, Paulie had me working to death in the docks today for eavesdropping on some people about ship repairs. Good night."

Maria pulled her baseball cap down over heir face and made herself as comfortable as she could in the corner. As a result, she didn't see the darkened look that came over Usopp's face upon hearing her statement.

"I'm going to give Luffy the fight of his life," the bandaged boy muttered to himself. He started moving quickly, going through the shells and other such items in his bag as he started to mutter under his breath at a volume so low that Maria wouldn't have been able to hear him if she had been awake.


	4. Midnight Duel at Ten O' Clock

**Memory Break**

_"What the --"_

_"It's that Pokemon on the wanted posters! That's Grovyle!"_

_A yellow mouse with a lightning bolt-shaped tail was standing next to Maria, who had called out while pointing forward with a paw at a large, green, lizard creature with leaves growing out of the top of its head and its front arms._

Wait...leaves?!

_"We have to take him out before he can get to the Time Gear!" Maria's gaze moved worriedly to a prone form lying nearby on the crystalline, blue rock she was standing on. "We can't let Azelf's fight go down in vain. Let's go!"_

_Maria bounded forward, a strange energy starting to build in her chest before she shot a blast of fire out of her mouth. "Flamethrower!" At the same time, the yellow mouse released a blast of electricity from his red cheeks. "Thunderbolt!"_

_The two attacks went careening towards the green lizard, who held up his arms. The leaves glowed a bright blue, and a shield of energy colored the same shade appeared in front of him, causing the fire and electricity to bounce off harmlessly...._

**Dream Break**

Maria woke up when she heard Usopp getting out of bed.

She lifted her head and blinked in confusion as the long-nosed teenager scrambled out of the covers and started towards the door of the room, picking up that orange bag of his as he went. Usopp opened the door and left without even bothering to look back at the other person he had been sharing the room with.

Confused and curious, Maria got to her feet and started to follow after him. She stepped out into the hall, hoping that Usopp wasn't about to know that she was following him. Unfortunately, he happened to be standing in the hall with his arms crossed over his chest...facing her.

"You shouldn't follow me to this," Usopp stated seriously.

"I'm curious about what you're doing," Maria replied, shrugging.

Usopp sighed and shook his head, closing his eyes as he did so. "You shouldn't watch what I'm about to do. It's personal."

"Oh." Maria rubbed the back of her head, glancing down at the floor. "Sorry, I didn't know. You kinda didn't say anything, and I didn't want to bother you. Anyway, you did say not to bug you earlier."

"Yeah, I did." Usopp frowned. "But you said you needed a place to stay for the night, right? Why don't you just stay in there until morning?"

"I'm curious about what you're going to do...and honestly, I want to be able to help if I can. You know, to repay you for letting me sleep on your floor for one night."

Usopp shook his head again. "You can't help me in what I have to do."

Maria frowned, her blue eyes darkening a shade as she cocked her head in confusion. "Why not?"

"Because this is a _duel._ I have to do this on my own, or else it's not going to be a proper one." Usopp gained an expression that made Maria get a hazy picture of someone with a serious look on their face, fighting without fear. Before she could even attempt to identify who it was, however, the picture was gone.

"OK. I get it." Maria sighed. "I won't do anything like that."

Usopp gave a nod of approval. "Thanks. Luffy--" The long-nosed teen cut himself off for a moment and gained an uncertain expression before regaining his determined expression again. "I mean, my enemy would be angry if he found out you were doing something to help me."

Maria blinked in confusion. _Did he just say what I thought he said? But...that's the name of that teenage captain who...._

"C-Can I watch anyway?" the amnesiac asked. "I haven't seen a duel before. At least, I don't _remember_ ever seeing a duel...."

Usopp blinked for a moment, looking a little befuddled at Maria's statement. Then he let out a sigh of annoyance and looked somewhat defeated, holding his hands up. "All right, fine. You can come. Just stay out of our way, all right? I don't want to see you getting hurt just because you got too close to our duel."

Maria nodded. "Okay. I'll be careful. So, where to?"

"You said you were at the docks earlier, right?"

"Yeah. That's where I've been sleeping and hanging out for the past few days."

"Well, we're going to have to work our way over there in order to get to where our duel is going to be. We've got half an hour in order to get there, which is about how long it took me to get here from there." Usopp turned and started down the hall, motioning for Maria to follow after him. The amnesiac did, falling in step with the long-nosed teenager easily, despite his fast pace. "I've got a yagara waiting around the corner. We can drop him off at the renting place, then work our way up to the ship. Easy."

"Are you sure that it's going to be all right for you?" Maria frowned slightly when they reached the stairs and started to go down them. "I mean, you're kinda covered in bandages, so you're probably hurt pretty badly under there...."

Usopp snorted. "I'm fine. Don't worry about it. It's just a scratch."

Maria opened her mouth to respond to this, but then she noticed that Usopp's voice had wavered a little bit when he had spoken...maybe he was trying to convince himself more than he was trying to convince her?

"...Well, okay, then," Maria finally stated cautiously. "If you say so."

The two of them reached the ground floor rather quickly, then slipped out the front door of the hotel and down the steps. The canal and sidewalks were quiet; not even a dog or a cat were out wandering around the area. Maria could catch sight of faint tendrils of smoke threading out from the alleyways, making her gain the feeling that the entire city may have just turned into some sort of haunted burial ground at sea.

Usopp seemed to have the exact same idea, because he shuddered a little before muttering, "Come on, my yagara's this way."

The long-nosed teenager led Maria around a corner and under a bridge. There, they found a two-seater, yellow yagara tied to a wood post and apparently taking a nap. The sea creature woke up as soon as the two teens were nearly on top of it. It gave a cheerful, quiet whinny upon seeing the two.

"Hey," Usopp murmured back while Maria climbed into the back seat. "You mind taking us back to the renting shop? Be as quick as you can, okay? But don't try to go up _too_ many canals."

The yagara whinnied again and nodded as Usopp untied it and climbed into the front seat. As soon as the bandaged teen was sitting down in the boat, the yellow sea creature took off at a high speed down the canal, forcing Maria to slam one hand on top of her head to keep her baseball cap from flying off.

"These things can move pretty fast!" Maria yelped as they suddenly took a sharp turn and went down another canal. "I didn't think they'd be able to move across the water at this speed!"

"You haven't ridden one?" Usopp guessed, glancing back at Maria in slight surprise. He had to face forward again pretty quickly, though, because the yagara took another three sharp turns right in a row.

Maria shook her head, even though she knew Usopp couldn't see it. "No. I haven't really had the chance to. If I've had to, I've always swum from place to place."

"Swim? Wouldn't that tire you out? I mean, Water 7 _is_ a pretty big place."

"I always stayed close to the docks. I never really went anywhere else. I didn't know where else to _go_." After a moment, Maria added, "I still don't, really."

"Huh. Well, I guess that makes sense."

The duo fell silent for a while, the yagara continuing to make sharp turns -- as well as a couple sudden ups and downs along the canals. It gave Maria a grand view of the sleeping city, as well as the great expanse of stars above. She wasn't really able to see if she could make her own constellations, however, because they were back down in the city canals in seconds.

"How much longer is it going to be?" Maria asked after they had made what felt like the umpteenth turn.

"We're almost there, I think," Usopp called back. He looked back at Maria and grinned. "Just let Captain Usopp and his trusty yagara handle the driving. We'll be there in no time!"

Maria blinked in slight confusion upon hearing that. _Captain? He's a captain? Of what?_

Before the blue-eyed amnesiac could even bother to ask, the yellow yagara slowed to a stop in front of the gate of some sort of giant pen. Within seconds, Usopp had jumped out of the boat on its back and was holding out a hand to help Maria out onto the path next to the canal. Reluctantly, the gesture was accepted, and Maria found that the long nose's grip was surprisingly strong, even if he was grimacing while she got out of the boat with his assistance.

"You're heavier than I expected," Usopp noted, frowning.

"And you've got a pretty good grip for someone who's covered from head to toe in bandages," Maria replied lightly. She glanced down at her clothes for a moment and, after making sure that she still had her hat on her head, the blue-eyed teen asked, "So, where to now?"

"It's not too far from here," Usopp replied. The determined expression that he had been carrying back at the hotel reappeared on his face. "So I'm going to have to ask you to lay low, okay? They don't know that I'm bringing someone else along, and if they see you --"

"They're going to suspect an unfair fight," Maria finished, nodding. "You mentioned something like that back at the hotel."

"Exactly." Usopp gave a triumphant nod. "Come on; I'll let you know when you have to stop following me, all right?"

"OK; sure."

The two teens walked away from the yagara pen and through a tunnel of sorts formed by the adjoining building. Maria noticed that a sign hung up on either end of the tunnel said "Bull Rental Shop," or something along those lines.

On the other side of the rental shop, the sky was once again clear for Maria to see...but a low-lying mist was closing in from all sides, it seemed -- especially on the barren rock that Usopp was now starting to walk across. Maria had to jog after him in order to make sure that she could keep him in her sights.

"Well, at least you aren't going to be damaging a part of the city by fighting out here," Maria noted, looking around. Even here, she could see the city buildings standing tall out of the water. "But...where's the guy you're going to be fighting?"

"Not far." Usopp started to look around the area, his eyes scanning the mist-covered rock with what Maria thought looked like the eyes of a hawk. He gave a nod a moment later, then pointed off towards a strange, large shape with what looked like a mast attached in the distance. "That's the ship. He's probably standing on deck waiting for me now."

"Okay...so, where should I be?"

"Over there." Usopp motioned over to a rock that was jutting out of the ground nearby. "You should be all right staying behind there when we fight."

Maria frowned slightly. "You sure?"

"Positive. Now go!" Usopp motioned for Maria to get moving. "They've probably spotted me by now!"

"Okay! Okay!" Maria quickly dashed over to the rock and dove behind it. She was glad for its size; the rock was more than large enough to allow her to hide behind it and leave some extra room in case any of it ended up getting torn off by the fight.

Although...how did that thought enter her mind? After all, Usopp was just a teenager, like she was. If he willingly challenged someone to a duel in his physically damaged state, the amnesiac doubted that the two of them were going to be strong enough to take out the boulder she was hiding behind.

Maria suddenly felt what seemed like a prickling at the back of her neck -- it almost felt like there was someone else out there. Cautiously, she peered out from behind her rock in order to see what was going on. Her eyes widened slightly when she saw a figure jump off the ship and land on the rocky shore, one hand on his head in order to keep whatever was there from slipping off. While the figure was completely in shadow, she couldn't help but feel like she knew him from somewhere....

The figure took a few steps away from the ship, then stopped and seemed to turn to face Water 7's skyline. Maria was almost sure that he was looking for Usopp. Was this her new friend's opponent?

The blue-eyed teen heard footsteps, then turned her head and saw that the long-nosed, bandaged teen was walking forward into the swirling, low-lying fog, and towards the other figure.

From somewhere, there came a faint, childish cry that sounded like the owner of the voice was in pain: "Usopp!"

Maria felt her heart jolt for a moment. _That_ _voice...could it be....the doctor that I met earlier this evening? But...how is that even possible?_

The girl didn't even have time to be confused about that, because seconds later, strange visions flashed through her mind that made absolutely no sense: Usopp with a smug grin on his face while a strange, brown creature with a pink top hat and antlers looked at him in shock; Usopp balancing plates on his long nose during what looked like a banquet gone drunk, while others at the table were laughing around him; Usopp, arguing with another teen with yellow hair and an eyebrow that spiraled inward; Usopp, holding what looked like three blue pipes while smirking; Usopp, with his hands crossed over his chest and a strange pirate flag behind him; Usopp, armed with a green slingshot as he aimed at a man with heart-shaped glasses who looked like he was aiming to kill a young girl....

Maria shook her head as these and more passed through her mind. They weren't memories -- the amnesiac was sure of that, since Usopp obviously didn't recognize her when she had first run into him -- but there was something about them that made the girl think that she had seen them before somewhere....

"This doesn't make any sense," Maria muttered, frowning to herself. "This is just like the other times...like back in the shipyard, and...." She but her lower lip as she thought back to the strange things she had seen in her dreams at night -- probably the only thing that she would manage to remember the following morning, even though hey did nothing to help her rediscover who she really was or where she came from. If anything, they just made the world even more confusing!

Maria gripped her head in her hands. "What is _wrong_ with me?"

"You came here without shred of cowardice in you. Good."

The teen blinked her blue eyes for a moment. The voice that she had heard, despite it being spoke at seemingly a normal volume, still managed to rocket its way across the rocky area to reach her. Maria removed her hands from her head and looked up around the rock as the strangely familiar, grim voice continued.

"No matter what happens, you can't regret it! This is just what you asked for!"

Maria's blue eyes widened slightly. _That voice...isn't he the guy who....?_

"That's perfect," Usopp replied at the same volume. "You'd better not go easy on me. I won't be the underdog this time. Cause I already know how to defeat you!"

Maria blinked. _This_ time? Does that mean the two had fought before?

The other figure across the rocks moved his arms from being crossed over his chest to hanging at his sides, fists clenched. It almost seemed like he was tense.

Maria was certain that she had misheard the almost rubbery noise that accompanied the movements of Usopp's opponent.

"Make no mistake. I'm not like any opponent you've faced before." Usopp paused a moment before continuing, but didn't shift his stance or do anything that Maria could see that might have hinted at some sort of hesitation. "We've been friends a long time. I know all your powers -- all your strengths, and all your weaknesses. But there's something you don't know about me. I have...eight thousand men on my side!"

Maria stiffened when she heard Usopp's exclamation, and nearly let out an exclamation of surprise, but remembered at the last second to slap a hand over her mouth -- after all, her new friend had said that she shouldn't be there...considering that it was a _one on one_ duel.

The brown-haired teen pulled down on the brim of her red and orange baseball cap and prayed that Usopp actually _wasn't_ planning on botching the duel by bringing in back-up to kill his opponent for him or something.

"If you don't surrender now, I'll order them to attack!" Usopp added.

"WHAT?!" came the childish shriek from the ship again. "Why didn't he tell me?!"

"Seriously?" came another voice -- a male's, definitely, but Maria had a hard time hearing his voice compared to Usopp, his opponent's, and the high-pitched whining. From what the amnesiac could tell, however, it seemed that this other guy wasn't quite so surprised. "Just go inside."

In fact, it seemed as though the other guy was just plain annoyed.

"If you're gonna fight, then at least take this seriously!" Usopp's opponent barked. The anger and force behind it sent chills running up and down Maria's spine...as well as more recognition to the voice and it's owner.

 _Wasn't he...the captain who came to Dock 1 this morning?_ Maria pondered. A frown flickered over her face. _Wait...they mentioned that a member of their group was missing...and didn't that orange-haired girl yell out "Usopp"?_

"Uuuusoppodu!" Usopp responded, seemingly ignoring his opponent's angry demand. "You have razor-sharp needles tucked between all of your teeth!"

There came yet another childish cry from the ship. Now, Maria was absolutely certain that this was the large, muscular doctor that she had met before...considering all the bandages that Usopp had all over him, her new friend was probably the crew member that the doctor had gone to treat. Only...he wasn't a crew member anymore...and Usopp had turned the doctor away.

"It hurts just to imagine that!" the doctor wailed.

"I'm telling you, just _go_ _inside_ ," came the annoyed voice again.

"You've got prickly cactus spines under your fingernails!" Usopp continued.

It was at this point that Usopp's opponent -- no, Straw Hat Luffy, Maria mentally corrected -- had had enough with Usopp's yelling. He started running forward even before Usopp had finished his newest call to arms, and his left hand grabbed his right shoulder.

"Gum Gum...." Luffy's voice started to increase in volume as he brought his arm back. "Pistol!"

It was at this point that Usopp put his hand over his mouth and coughed. Something red spurted between his fingers, causing Maria to stiffen behind her hiding place and Luffy to stop his arm from coming forward towards his opponent.

The coughing continued, large amount of red liquid spilled onto the rocky ground as Usopp fell to his knees and put down a hand to steady himself. Maria was half-tempted to crawl out there to make sure that Usopp was all right -- and maybe stop Luffy herself, if at all possible -- but then she noticed that Luffy had stopped himself. The angry look that had been on his face a few seconds ago had shifted somewhat. Now it included...concern? Pain? Maria wasn't quite sure as to which one was passing through the teenage captain's mind right at that moment.

"USOPP! PLEASE DON'T DIE!" the doctor screamed. Maria was amazed at how loud and how _young_ the doctor could sound. She normally thought that someone of his muscular size would have a much deeper voice. A much older one, too.

Just what _was_ it with this pirate crew?

"Special Attack...Ketchup Star."

Maria's head turned sharply from the ship in the distance to the confrontation occurring nearby. _Did Usopp just say "ketchup"?_

"Holding pity for your enemy?" Usopp continued as he started to get to his feet. Luffy took a step back, his left hand still resting on his right shoulder. "That's only arrogance, don't you think?"

Luffy gritted his teeth, then brought his right arm back as he moved towards Usopp. Before he could even take a step forward, however, Usopp yelled something else as he brought a hand up.

"Flash Dial!"

A blast of something that might have been the equivalent of a dark room suddenly filling with light came out of the object that Usopp was holding.

Maria squeezed her eyes shut as best she could when the light suddenly flooded out of nowhere. Spots danced across the back of her eyelids for a few seconds, and something told her that Luffy was suffering an identical situation of sorts because of the blast. Did Usopp mean to blind his opponent for a reason?

"Now, Special Attack, Egg Star!"

Maria heard something go flying, and she snapped her eyes open in order to try and see what Usopp had just done. Oddly enough, she was able to see properly right when something slammed into Luffy's face and left an odd, yellow-ish gunk all over him.

"Again!" _Zing!_ "Again!" _Zing!_ "Again!" _Zing!_

Luffy didn't look like he was enjoying the barrage _at all_. Maria couldn't exactly blame him -- he was just hit in the face with an _egg_ , for crying out loud, and Usopp didn't exactly say that it was rotten. Then again, he probably didn't have to now, considering that the amnesiac could smell the sulfuric stench from her hiding place.

"Gah, it stinks! They're rotten!" Luffy exclaimed. He glared at Usopp, who was fiddling with something in his bag. "Dammit, would you stop messing around already?"

 _Messing around? Is that all that Usopp is doing?_ Maria frowned in confusion and scratched her head. _He seems smarter than just someone who would take a person out with just parlor tricks. Especially considering everything that just went through my head a few minutes ago...._

"You think this is a joke, huh?" Usopp responded with a growl. "Cause I'm dead serious!"

"Oh, yeah?" Luffy responded.

"That's right! This is the way I fight!" Usopp loaded his green slingshot -- _where did he pick that up from?_ Maria wondered -- and fired the ammo at Luffy. "Careful, that gaping mouth of yours is going to get burned!"

The bullet went flying into Luffy's mouth, and the boy reflexively swallowed it before his face turned an angry red. Maria became alarmed when she saw that she couldn't see his pupils, but then watched with some concern while Luffy bent down a little and did his best to cover his mouth with both hands.

"Special Attack, Tobasco Star!" Usopp declared.

At the same time, Luffy bent his head back and released a _huge_ flame that lit up the area. "HOOOOOOOT!"

Reflexively, Maria let out a yelp and jumped back a little in alarm. _Since when does_ that _happen when someone eats Tobasco sauce?_

Things were getting stranger and stranger by the second...and something told Maria that it was only going to get worse for Luffy from there. Usopp was absolutely _ruthless!_

"I wouldn't move around too much if I were you," Usopp added. "Cause the whole battlefield is Caltrop Hell!"

"Ehhh?" Maria blinked in confusion. _Did I hear that right? What's that supposed to mean?_

At the same time, Luffy had fallen back onto the ground, considering that he had bent so far back in the first place as a result of the Tobasco Star he had swallowed. Maria heard the sound of metal bouncing away a little bit from where Luffy fell, followed closely by a yell of pain from said captain.

Maria shifted a little nervously, but hen her right foot hit against something that caused it some discomfort. Turning, the blue-eyed teen caught sight of the source of the trouble, and her eyes widened.

"When did he scatter these all over the place?" Maria asked quietly, picking up the spiky object carefully and inspecting it closely. She looked around to make sure there weren't any nearby and, finding none, relaxed slightly. "Well, I shouldn't have to worry too much about getting punctured myself, but...." A frown worked its way over her face. "Isn't this fighting dirty? I mean, a duel is about fighting face to face, not with a slingshot and ammo...isn't it?"

"Listen, Luffy!" Usopp called out. "You can pity me if you want, but I'm gonna beat you and take the _Merry_ with me! And I don't care what it takes!"

 _Merry?_ It took Maria a moment to realize that Usopp was talking about the ship Luffy and the orange-haired girl were willing to pay so much for in order to get repairs. She also remembered that Usopp wasn't there when they found out that the ship couldn't be fixed....

Did he really have to take the information this badly? Or did they not give it to him gently enough?

By this time, Luffy had managed to get to his feet, his hat hanging on his back, but Usopp was ready for Luffy before the other teen could even land a hit.

"Special Attack, Pepper Star!"

A cloud of brownish dust sudden appeared around Luffy's head, and the pirate captain started sneezing uncontrollably, while at the same time stumbling around the battlefield as a result of the force of said sneezes. Multiple spikes went through the black-haired teen, causing him to cry out in pain.

"Like I said, I know you, so I know which attacks are going to work the best!" Usopp started rifling through the bag at his side again without so much as glancing down at it.

Meanwhile, Luffy had finally managed to stop stumbling around and getting himself poked by the spikes by placing a lot of his weight on the fingertips of one hand, and the teen captain was coughing instead of sneezing.

"Dammit," Luffy cursed. "This stuff stinks, my mouth is burning, and it hurts!" He glared over at Usopp, who looked equally angry.

"I'm not gonna give you an inch, you hear me?!" Usopp barked back. "Special Attack, Shruiken Shooting Star!" The long-nosed teen pulled back on his slingshot and let his ammo fly.

Maria's eyes widened in alarm when she saw the long band of star-shaped metal go flying, then separate into thin sheets. Just as quickly, the words "ninja star" came to mind, and the next thing was _Where in Water 7 did he manage to pick those up? I don't recall anything about a ninja setting up shop in the bazaar -- the shipwrights probably would have talked about it!_

Luffy saw the attack coming, it seemed, though, because his eyes widened seconds before he jumped out of the way. He carefully avoided every single spike that was sitting on the rocky ground with relative ease, making slightly panicked noises as he attempted to keep his balance.

And then Usopp let fly _another_ batch of ninja stars, but the results were pretty much the same as Luffy managed to avoid them. However, he actually rolled out of the way, as there weren't any more spikes near him...and his back was now up against a rock near Maria's own hiding place!

Usopp launched a single ninja star at Luffy since his back was against a wall. He aimed it at Luffy's head, but the teen dodged by moving to his left while Usopp reloaded another Shuriken Shooting Star.

Maria had to look over the top of her hiding place in order to be able to see both duelers at once, now, and she wasn't exactly liking what was going on all that much. She understood that this was something that the two of them had to do alone, but...well, there are just some things you take a slingshot to, and other things you'd grab more grown-up weapons for. The amnesiac wondered if Usopp's family had something against weapons like that, and that was why he used such unconventional bullets and a slingshot instead of a pistol.

Usopp fired again at Luffy, and the ninja stars went flying in a wide pattern at the teen captain, who leapt away from the rock -- and Maria, to an extent -- while the sharpened metal became stuck in the rock. Just when Luffy had managed to land safely, another sting of ninja stars came firing at him, and Luffy jumped away again without so much as getting a scratch on him.

Maria found herself becoming amazed at Luffy's speed. She thought the yagaras were fast before, but Luffy was really light on his feet! Obviously, he'd been in situations similar to this before, but if he was good at dodging attacks, how good was he when he actually managed to find an opening and hit his opponent?

Both of the duelers were panting heavily, now, taking a quick breather before launching themselves into the thick of it again. Maria didn't see how Usopp could get as tired as Luffy was, but then again, he had been carrying around a lot of metal with him a moment ago. The blue-eyed amnesiac suspected that Usopp had a lot of arm strength in order to do something like that.

That's when Luffy noticed something else. He lifted his head up a little and started to look around where he was standing, causing Maria herself to frown.

"What are you looking for?" the brown-haired girl asked quietly.

"Smoke?" Luffy asked quietly. Maria was barely able to pick up the question, and was surprised that she could hear the black-haired teen's question from where she sat.

"I'm using a Breath Dial," Usopp stated.

Luffy looked over at Usopp, as did Maria.

"Breath Dial?" Maria frowned. "What does that do? ...Is it like that Flash Dial thing he used earlier?"

Usopp tightened his grip on his slingshot. "You didn't notice the smell because of the rotten eggs. And now you're completely surrounded by gas!"

Maria's eyes widened. _Gas? Like the fuel?_

Usopp pulled back on the slingshot, which was now loaded with a small, yellow pellet.

"Sorry," he grunted quietly before letting it fly at Luffy and the gas cloud. "Special Attack, Fire Star!"

The resulting explosion nearly blinded Maria, and she was forced to hunker down behind her rock as the energies unleashed went flying all over the rocky outcropping. Usopp could probably take care of himself -- after all, he came equipped to make that big explosion, so why wouldn't he have come with his own protection? -- but Maria doubted that she was going to be able to last for long with so much as a hair poking out from behind her hiding place!

She just hoped that Luffy was still alive somehow...it confused her at this point as to why she would care for a pirate and his crew, but something deep inside told her that Luffy and the Straw Hat Pirates were a crew that could be trusted. After all, the doctor was nice enough...and Usopp probably was, too, when he wasn't being provoked by the loss of a ship.

"Now that's gonna sting!" came a voice from nearby -- most likely on the ship. It sounded somewhat muted, and not just because of the distance. The explosion's shockwave of sound had been loud enough that Maria suspected she'd been given momentary hearing damage.

...how Maria had come up with that explanation, she had no clue.

"Luffy! Usopp!" another voice yelled as the light started to fade -- a girl's voice, but Maria wasn't exactly sure who it might have been. Whoever they were, though, they were clearly a member of the crew if they knew both of the duelers by name.

Cautiously, Maria got up from her hiding place and looked around in order to gauge the damage that the explosion might have caused to both the landscape and the two combatants.

The area was clearly scorched -- in some places, embers were actually _burning_ on the rocky ground -- and the two boys were lying flat on their backs. Luffy, even though he had been at the center of the fight, didn't even look like he had been burned to a crisp, leaving Maria amazed at how much damage the pirate captain could take. Her gaze moved as she started to look for Usopp, and the teen froze where she finally found him _lying on the rock she had been hiding behind._

"U-Usopp?" Maria asked hesitantly, looking at the bandaged teen with wide eyes. "A-are you all right?"

"I'm fine," Usopp responded sourly, quietly, panting heavily and not even bothering to look back at the amnesiac he had brought with him.

"LUFFY!" came the doctor's scream. "USOPP!"

There were a few moments of silence before Maria decided to speak again.

"He seems pretty worried about you," the amnesiac stated quietly. "I think they all are."

Usopp made a scoffing noise, then started to get to his feet, still not looking at Maria and instead glaring in one particular direction -- maybe that's where Luffy had been blown? She couldn't really see with all this smoke still drifting around from the explosion....

"I'm no fool," Usopp growled. "I realize it's going to take more than that to beat you."

There came the sound of footsteps from somewhere in the smoke in front of them. Usopp sent a quick glance back at Maria, and she obeyed the unspoken suggestion to get her head out of sight. Most of it, anyway -- the amnesiac was still curious enough to poke out from the side of the rock in order to see what was going to happen.

"I know you, Luffy. You fight every battle with all your strength."

Maria could see the shadowy form of Luffy through the smoke, now. It didn't look like he was tense or at all prepared to punch Usopp like he had been at the beginning of the fight. The amnesiac wondered if he was only just barely capable of standing on his feet after Usopp's Fire Star.

"But I'm ready for any technique you've got!" Usopp pulled back his slingshot and lined it up with Luffy's form.

Luffy suddenly burst out into a run, the smoke around his form swirling.

"Special Attack--" Usopp started.

"Gum Gum--" Luffy yelled as he burst out of the smoke cloud. "Gatling!"

And fists starting flying _everywhere_. Maria's eyes widened considerably when she saw how many fists Luffy was able to generate -- and how his arms _stretched!_ It was absolutely impossible that someone was able to have their bones, muscles, and skin move like that!

What kind of human _was_ Luffy?

"Blasting Cactus Star!"

Usopp let fly a green pellet this time and it collided with one of Luffy's fists. A look of alarm passed over the pirate captain's face right before the pellet exploded, releasing small spikes in only Luffy's direction. Cuts started appearing all over as the spikes either grazed him or stuck into him.

As a result of the blast from the pellet that sent the spikes flying, Luffy was sent flying a short distance before he was sent skidding into the dirt. The boy started to get up, but he let out a cry of pain as a result of Usopp's latest attack.

At the same time, the long-nosed slingshot user bounced three yellow pellets in his hand before catching them and sending them flying at Luffy, who was gripping one shoulder. "Triple Exploding Star!"

Maria's blue eyes widened. She saw what how big of an explosion that Usopp had managed to create last time -- some of the carnage was still around them, in fact -- but the fact that there were _three_ going off at once truly alarmed her.

Despite the fact that Maria had come there with Usopp, the blue-eyed amnesiac still wanted Luffy to be able to get out of this alive. In fact, she wasn't even sure that she wanted either of them to go any further with this than they already had!

Luffy saw the pellets coming, and he quickly scrambled out of the way before three explosions went off behind him, shaking the ground with the pure force of the impact.

Three more exploding pellets made their way up into the air, and Usopp fired again along Luffy's chosen path while the young pirate dodged the explosions. The pellets kept going off, one after the other, forcing Luffy to continue dodging.

When Usopp paused in the explosions around the area, Luffy turned sharply in order to face the long-nosed teen. Maria saw him bring his arm back, and quickly pulled behind her rock in order to avoid anymore oncoming attacks.

"Now Gum Gum Pistol!"

Maria tilted her head back in order to watch what was going on above her, and her eyes widened in alarm when Luffy's fist connected with Usopp's left cheek, sending blood flying from his nose as the long-nosed teen was sent flying from where he was standing. She turned her head, watching as Usopp bounced three times on the rocky ground before coming to a stop, then heard a distinct _snap!_

Maria peered over the top of her hiding place to look at Luffy with wide, awe-filled eyes. Such strength! And that ability to stretch! No wonder this guy was a pirate captain!

But...where did he get that ability to stretch? Was he born with it?

Luffy suddenly started running towards Usopp, leaving his hands far behind him as his arms stretched out. "It's time to put an end to this!" The teen jumped up into the air. "Gum Gum Bazooka!"

Maria's eyes widened upon hearing the name of the rocket launcher-type of gun as Luffy's arms came flying in front of him and went straight for Usopp.

_He's definitely going to go flying! Usopp is--_

Maria's train of thought was cut short as Usopp held a hand in front of him -- right in the path of the attack -- and the attack seemed to do no damage at all. Instead, Luffy's arms suddenly became a bit wobbly, and a look of alarm crossed Luffy's face as his arms retracted.

Maria looked quickly back and forth between the two combatants, and she caught sight of a strange, pink, spiraled shell with a bunch of holes in it planted on Usopp's open palm.

"Recognize this?" Usopp asked darkly. He raised his hand -- and the shell with it. "I'm guessing that Bazooka would've hurt! Let's find out!" Usopp ran towards Luffy, who was still mid-air, then jumped up so that he could collide with the captain.

"Impact!"

_Click._

Maria's blue eyes widened in alarm when both Usopp and Luffy were sent flying backwards -- the latter of the two with blood flying from his face.

There came a scream from the ship nearby -- the doctor's scream, followed shortly by a girl's voice exclaiming, "He used an Impact Dial!"

"There's that Dial thing again," Maria muttered, frowning to herself as she scratched her head. "Is that shell thing one of many kinds or something? Because I haven't seen the shipwrights or anyone else using shells like that before. Where could pirates have picked up technology like that?"

Usopp suddenly let out a yell of pain and collapsed onto his knees while Luffy was still flying through the air. Then he lifted his head and cried out, "I WON'T LOSE TO YOU!"

Right then, Luffy landed on his feet with an explosion of noise as rock shifted from the impact. Usopp lifted his head and looked up at Luffy, as did Maria. The amnesiac shuddered when she saw how his eyes were shadowed over, like he was so mad that no one could see his eyes...and the cuts and other wounds that completely covered him didn't exactly look like they were very easy to fight with, either.

Luffy and Usopp stared at each other for a moment, and something about the eye contact caused Maria to gain another headache and another blast of visions of Usopp, Luffy, and other strange figures interacting together and having a good time.

She was starting to get the feeling that these were other members of Luffy's crew, but...she wasn't entirely sure. Maybe...maybe one of them would tell her about what was going on after this fight was over.

Luffy suddenly brought his arm back, stretching it so far that it may as well have reached the edge of the rocky area where they were fighting. A loud yell accompanied the movement, followed by the black-haired captain yelling, "Gum Gum Bullet!"

The fist came back as Luffy yelled those three words, and it slammed into Usopp's stomach. The bandaged, long-nosed teen took it seemingly well -- he didn't go flying backwards for half a mile -- but then he coughed up a large amount of blood, causing Maria to gasp and clap her hands over her own mouth.

"Usopp!" came the doctor's cry of pain from the ship. Maria knew that he must want to come down and treat the teen so badly, but...that much restraint for a doctor spoke wonders for his loyalty to his captain, as well.

"You must all have a lot of honor," Maria murmured to herself, gripping at her jacket with her right hand. "I wish that I knew people like you. Could _remember_ people like all of you."

Maria didn't even bother to look over at Usopp when she heard him collapse; she'd figured that after an attack like _that_ , no one would be truly able to stand for all that long. Besides, the hit seemed to have a sense of...finality to it. Like the fight was over right then and there. The amnesiac didn't know _how_ she knew, but...it was like she almost sensed it.

Maybe she had experience in fights that she couldn't remember?

There came more sounds of bodies shifting, and Maria looked up to see that Usopp had managed to move himself onto his side while Luffy was now sitting on his knees, still breathing heavily from unleashing that attack.

"You idiot...." Luffy bowed his head. "You knew it would end like this! You knew you could never beat me!"

Usopp didn't move. Maria felt her heart clench when she wondered if the bandaged teen had died when he took that punch. She put that thought aside, however, when she saw that Usopp's side was rising and falling at least a little bit -- not much, but it was still somewhat noticeable.

Luffy stayed on his knees for a moment longer, then slowly good to his feet, his hands clenched at his sides. Then he turned and started walking away, still somewhat tense from the fight. Maria couldn't help but wonder if he had exhausted himself so much that now it was taking all his strength to stand up, but then she put that thought aside -- he'd been able to stand after the bomb. Something told her that he could still move around without any fear from collapsing at this point.

Luffy stopped walking for a moment, then leaned down and picked up a straw hat with a red band from the ground before putting it on his head. Maria realized with a jolt that it was his, and wondered for a moment when it had fallen off and _how in the world_ that thing had managed to stay in one piece.

"Do whatever you want with the _Merry_ ," Luffy stated, his voice wavering a little.

Usopp's head shifted, and Maria released a sigh of relief upon seeing that he was still conscious.

"I won't let anything hold us back," Luffy continued, not bothering to look back. "We're getting a new ship and sailing forward." The black-haired pirate captain started walking forward again.

Maria's head came under yet _another_ pounding headache as she saw Usopp arguing with Luffy about sitting on top of some sheep head on a ship -- the _Merry,_ maybe? -- then talking about going to some place called Elbath, the village of warriors. Wherever that was. The amnesiac wasn't quite able to make heads or tails of it, but again like at the beginning of the duel, something told her that these weren't memories -- not entirely, at least.

That something told her they were memories from the past of the people on the Straw Hat crew. Which Maria shouldn't be seeing. Which made them visions instead.

While Maria wasn't too sure about the difference between memory and vision at this point, she was pretty sure that the words had been chosen for a reason. A reason from her past, which she would have to figure out sooner or later. Preferably sooner.

Maria watched Luffy stop walking and stand next to the ship. Now that the fog had been cleared, she could see that there were a number of figures on the deck by the sheep's head, which was acting as a figurehead. None of them were really moving, and she didn't see the muscular doctor with the top hat standing among them.

After a few moments, a small figure jumped from the deck onto the rocky ground and started running towards Usopp. Maria was wise to duck behind her rock as the figure approached; no one other than Usopp knew that she was there, and no one else was going to know about her being there right now.

If anything else, something told Maria that she had to be the one to tell them herself -- it couldn't be an accidental discovery.

The amnesiac watched quietly as the small figure -- now revealed to be some kind of animal with hooves and horns sticking out of a pink top hat that looked _really familiar_ \-- placed medical items near Usopp before looking at him with teary eyes and running off. Maria's heart went out to the little guy, and she wondered why he'd been completely unable to actually treat Usopp of his injuries. It looked like he wanted to, but...maybe someone on the crew had told him not to?

It took a few minutes before the pirates disappeared into the ship. When Maria saw the lights of the cabin come on, she quickly crawled over to where Usopp was lying.

"Usopp?" Maria asked quietly. "Are you all right?"

Usopp shifted his head so that he could look up at her. The amnesiac was somewhat alarmed to discover that there was a puddle underneath his head and -- _were those tears?_

There was a hurt look on the long-nosed teen's face, but that was quickly covered up by a sour expression. "Leave me alone."

Maria became somewhat taken aback by this. "Wh-what? Are you sure?"

"Yeah. I can take care of myself." Usopp started to shift a little, but his limbs shook as he attempted to get up. However, he collapsed seconds later with a grunt of pain. "Just go, okay? I don't need your pity."

The defeated teen's words stung, and Maria flinched back a little. Her eyebrows knit together in concern, but eventually the sour look that was on Usopp's face won out, and the amnesiac started to back away from the long-nosed teen. "I was going to offer to give you a hand to get on the ship, but...if you want me to leave you alone, I can do that, too...."

Usopp didn't even respond to Maria's statement; instead, he started working at trying to get to his feet again while Maria got to her own and turned her attention to the ship. Already, she could see that the pirate crew had left the ship and were starting to trek along the rocky area towards the city.

 _I hope that Luffy is all right...._ Maria thought to herself, biting her lower lip.

That's when she caught sight of him: a large, muscular figure carrying what looked like a large pack on his back, and had a top hat on top of his head. Words from earlier that day came back almost instantly: _"If you need anything, don't be afraid to come and find us."_

"I know that it's right after...what just happened, but...." Maria frowned. "Maybe...maybe they can give me some help with these weird visions that aren't my memories...but sometimes feel like they could be."

With that, the amnesiac pulled down on her red and orange baseball cap and started after the figures in the distance, leaving Usopp behind as he had asked.


	5. Meeting the Crew

Trailing the five pirates and their luggage-laden yagaras was actually a lot less difficult than Maria had originally imagined. Sure, the sea creatures were fast in the water and knew the city like the back of their fins, but it looked like Luffy and the others had grabbed everything that was theirs -- including three _tangerine trees_ \-- and just loaded the yagaras with them.

As a result, Maria was only barely able to keep up with the yagaras, who didn't take any of the canals up over the city buildings for one reason or another. She could guess that they were trying to find a place to stay for the night -- and maybe until they found a new ship -- but it wasn't going to be a permanent apartment. So that meant hotels.

The amnesiac's guess was proven to be true rather quickly, as they soon arrived at a hotel with a flat roof in a residential section of the town, not even taking the water elevator, as that probably wasn't operating at this ungodly hour of the night.

Maria swam up to the sidewalk in front of the hotel just as the five figures disappeared inside. The last one of them to enter the building -- a young man with green hair and a white shirt -- stopped at the entrance and looked down at the water, forcing Maria to duck her head under so that she wouldn't be seen. She treaded barely under the water, watching as the green-haired pirate looked around the area before looking at the water. When he finally turned and walked inside, shutting the door behind him, Maria came up and took in a big gulp of air through her nose -- no use letting them know that she was actually out there.

"I'd better get in there before I can't follow them to where they're staying," Maria murmured quietly to herself. The amnesiac reached up and grabbed one of the wooden posts that the pirates' yagaras were tied to, giving a nod in greeting to the sea creature as she did, then pulled herself up onto the sidewalk.

The action took more grunting and straining than it would have earlier in the day, mainly considering the fact that it was the middle of the night, when people were supposed to be _sleeping_ , and Maria had already spent a large amount of energy running around the city earlier in the day.

Maria quickly scrambled onto the sidewalk and moved into the lobby, catching sight of the back of the green-haired pirate's white shirt as he walked up a set of stairs at the opposite end of the hotel's lobby. The amnesiac waited for a second, then moved after him by dashing across the lobby and starting up the stairs after the pirate. The teen did her best to stay as far down the steps as she could without also losing sight of the green-haired man, but it was somewhat difficult as the stairs were somewhat spiraled...and Maria was sure that the green-haired pirate must have caught sight of her (or, at least, heard her coming up the stairs).

So, why did he let her continue to follow them?

Maria started to feel increasingly nervous as she climbed up the stairs after the pirates, then out into a hall lined with doors -- entrances into hotel rooms. None of the pirates turned around to so much as _look_ at her, instead moving towards a door on the left. A girl with orange hair -- the same girl who had come with Luffy to Dock 1, Maria realized -- unlocked the door and disappeared inside the room, followed by the other members of the crew...who were all carrying something except for the girl.

Maria swallowed slightly as the green-haired pirate started towards the door himself. The amnesiac steeled herself; it was now or never, if she was going to be able to talk to the Straw Hat pirates about anything that happened at the duel or concerning her amnesia trouble. The teen started forward after the green-haired pirate, praying that he'd let her into the room before demanding to know who she was and what she was doing following after them.

Unfortunately, Maria never even got to get a foot into the hotel room. Just as she was about to, the green-haired teenager pirate in front of her turned around sharply and glared down at her while also setting himself squarely in the doorway.

Maria took a step back in surprise when the pirate locked eyes with her; she hadn't known that a pirate's eyes could bore such holes into a person!

"Why have you followed us all the way up here?" the green-haired teen growled. One hand shifted to the three swords that hung at his side, and he gripped the hilt of the white one tightly.

Maria swallowed nervously. "D-don't be mad -- please. I..." The amnesiac quickly fumbled around for something that she could say that might be a bit more believable than what she really came to do. "...I just wanted to meet you guys, that's all."

A bright orange shock of hair appeared behind the swordsman, and Maria's blue eyes moved and locked with the brown orbs of another teenage girl -- the same girl who had come with Luffy to the docks.

"Hey...you were in the shipyard, right?" the orange-haired girl behind the swordsman asked.

The green-haired teen's gaze moved from Maria to the girl behind him. "You know her?"

"I haven't exactly been able to introduce myself to any of you...but yeah, I was there when you guys were in Dock 1 earlier today," Maria admitted, rubbing the back of her head. "My name's Maria, and I'm...I'm hoping that you guys might be able to help me."

"What makes you think that we can help you?" the orange-haired girl asked, frowning.

"There's this...this feeling I've been getting," Maria replied nervously. She glanced up and down the hall. "Can...Can I talk about this in there? This isn't something that I like to talk about where others might be able to hear...."

The green-haired teen and orange-haired girl exchanged a glance -- or rather, a guarded expression and a concerned one that morphed into a glare.

The swordsman let out a low growl, then looked over at Maria. "Fine." He moved back into the hotel room, letting Maria step inside before shutting the door behind her.

Maria looked around the room, taking in each member of the pirate crew: the green-haired swordsman, the orange-haired girl, a blond-haired young man with a cigarette in his mouth and bangs flopping over one eye, leaving one curly eyebrow exposed, and the muscular doctor with the large pink hat. Her eyes settled on Luffy, who was sitting cross-legged on the bed with his straw hat on his head and bandages wrapped up and down his arms. The boy had a blank, yet also expectant look on his face.

"Come on," the swordsman growled behind Maria. "We don't have all night to just sit around and stare at each other."

Maria stiffened when the green-haired teen growled, then turned slightly in order to look back at him. "S-sorry. It's just that I haven't seen a pirate crew like you guys before. At least...I don't remember it. See....I kinda lost my memory a week ago."

"You lost your memory?" the orange-haired girl repeated in surprise. "Did you hear a horn or something like that?"

"No -- not at all. The farthest back my memory goes is a bright blue flash in the middle of a storm and some pretty creepy laughter." Maria shuddered a little at the memory. "But that's not really the weirdest thing that I've ever seen since then. At least, it doesn't _seem_ strange compared to everything else."

"What do you mean?" piped up the doctor, frowning slightly.

Maria paused, then but her lower lip and started to twirl a finger in her hair nervously. "I don't now how you're going to react to this, but...I've been getting visions lately."

Luffy sat up a little straighter when he heard this; the others simply exchanged glances.

"Visions?" The orange-haired girl frowned. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that I'm seeing things in my dreams that almost feel like real-life events that have happened here." Maria looked down at her open hands. "Things like one man freezing an entire section of ocean so that people can go to an inhabited island, and faces of people and glimpses of places that I can hardly remember when I wake up. Everyone in Water 7 seems to think that all I'm doing is regaining my memories whenever I fall asleep, but...these _visions_ feel way different from that."

If Maria had looked up, she would have seen the pirates exchange glances.

"Besides," the amnesiac added, "for some reason, each vision I get has at least one of you guys in it."

_ That _ got their attention.

"How is _that_ even possible?" the orange-haired girl demanded. "We haven't even seen each other before today!"

"That's the problem -- I don't know!" Maria shot back. "But every time I see you guys, I know that it _definitely_ isn't a memory."

"Is it possible that you ate a Devil Fruit?" the blond-haired teen in the suit spoke up.

Maria looked over and blinked in confusion. "Devil Fruit?"

"It's a fruit that gives you a special ability while also taking away your ability to swim," the blond teen explained. "It's possible that you ate one before you lose your memory."

Maria blinked for a moment, then frowned and shook her head. "No, that couldn't be it. I swim in the canals in order to get from one place to another sometimes. I had to do that a couple times when I was following you guys."

"WHAT?!"

Maria flinched back when the entire crew -- except for Luffy -- yelled this out in exclamation.

"But...but that shouldn't be possible! How can someone have an ability like that without eating a Devil Fruit?" the orange-haired girl was at a loss for words.

Maria shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I don't remember."

"Or you could be lying about the visions," the green-haired swordsman responded.

"I'm _not_ lying about this!" Maria argued, turning to glare up at the swordsman. "It's been happening almost every single night for the last week! Every time I fall asleep, not only do I get a glimpse at my memories, but I also see what's going on somewhere else! It sounds impossible, but it's true!"

"And what do you expect us to do about it?"

Maria turned to look at the blond-haired teenage boy again. "I don't now. But something tells me that you guys might be able to help me in the long run."

"I doubt that we're going to be much help...."

Maria's blue eyes blinked in confusion, then moved to look up at the muscular doctor. "What do you mean?"

"Amnesia is a tricky business. It can recover itself at the most unexpected of times, or the brain can never truly recover." The brown, furry man frowned. "I think it's pretty incredible that you managed to remember a portion of the incident."

"I think it's incredible she hasn't reacted to Chopper's monstrous appearance," the blond-haired teen responded dubiously.

Maria blinked for a moment, then her vision started to blur and darken. She flinched back, startled, as the hotel room was changed to a beach at sunset. In front of her was the same yellow mouse with the thunderbolt tail that she had been seeing for the past day or so.

_ "Hi, my name's Pika," the creature stated. "I'm glad to see that you're all right. What's your name?" _

The scene quickly changed, but this next one did not contain sound. Instead, it showed strange creatures that looked like animals, but were colored in a variety of shades that shouldn't have been possible with them. In the forefront was what looked like a humanoid cobalt hedgehog with bright, fun-seeking emerald eyes and a knowing smirk that was begging for trouble.

Maria's vision darkened again, and she shook her head in an attempt to clear up her vision. Seconds later, she could see the hotel room and the pirates, who were all staring at her with mixed looks of shock, interest, and concern.

"Are you all right?" the blond asked, concerned.

"I think...." Maria started, panting from exertion, "...that I've run into talking animals before that look stranger than your friend does."

There came a chuckling noise from somewhere in the room, and everyone's heads turned to look at Luffy, who looked like he was enjoying himself.

"That was a memory then, right?" Luffy guessed, still clearly humored.

"Uh...yeah, I guess so." Maria rubbed the back of her head. "If it is, it's the first time I've actually been able to see it so clearly." A slight smile tugged at Maria's lips.

"What's your name, kid?" the green-haired swordsman asked.

_ Aren't we about the same age?  _ "Like I said before, my name's Maria." The teen looked around the room. "So, who are you guys?"

"I'm Luffy, the man who's gonna be King of the Pirates!" Luffy jammed a thumb to his chest, grinning.

"Pirates have a king?" Maria blinked in confusion.

"It's the title they give to the man who conquers the Grand Line," the blond-haired boy explained somewhat indifferently. "I'm Sanji, this crew's cook. If you're looking for any specific delicacies, let me know."

Behind Maria, the green-haired swordsman muttered something under his breath. Sanji was on his feet and glaring at the swordsman in an instant.

"What was that?!" Sanji roared.

"Why don't you let her play darts with your forehead while you're at it?" the swordsman yelled in response.

"Listen, moss-head, I'm not about to take orders from you!"

_ BONK! _

Maria blinked in confused surprise when the orange-haired girl whacked both Sanji and the swordsman over the head with her fists.

"Boys, not now!" the girl snarled, glaring at the two of them. Then she gave a sigh and shook her head before turning her attention to Maria. "My name's Nami."

"Uh...okay. Are you the first mate or something?"

Luffy laughed. "No, she's the navigator! And Zoro's the swordsman, Chopper's the doctor, and Sanji's the cook." He motioned to each member of the crew in turn. "We have a historian, too -- her name's Robin. And--" The black-haired teenager paused, blinking for a moment, then shook his head. "And that's everybody."

Maria's blue eyes blinked in confusion, and she looked around the room at the others. None of them looked like they wanted to meet her gaze.

"I'm getting the feeling that I came here at a bad time," Maria murmured apologetically. "This has got something to do with that duel earlier, doesn't it?"

Luffy pulled his hat further down over his face. "You saw that?"

"I'm someone who doesn't remember anything about how the world works, s-so of course I was curious." Maria rubbed the back of her head somewhat nervously. "I can honestly say that I was surprised when I saw your arms stretch like that. How can you do that?"

The black-haired captain perked up almost instantly; Maria was surprised at how a simple change in subject could cause such a shift in his personality.

"I ate a Devil Fruit!" Luffy explained. "And now I'm a rubber man." He hooked a finger in his mouth and stretched out one of his cheeks, revealing perfectly straight teeth. "See?"

Maria's eyes widened while Luffy's cheek snapped back and the pirate teen gave a giddy grin. "Whoa...." A grin came over Maria's own face. "That's so cool! That must help a lot with everything that you guys have done!"

Luffy laughed through his grin at Maria's reaction, while the other crew members looked somewhat dumbfounded at the amnesiac's statement.

Chopper blinked for a moment, then smiled quietly. "Luffy's not the only one with Devil Fruit powers."

Maria looked up at the muscular doctor. "He isn't?"

Chopper shook his head, then abruptly _shrank_ to a small figure with hooves for hands and feet, and antlers sticking out of either side of his pink top hat.

Maria's eyes widened upon seeing the new form the doctor had taken. "Is this your natural form? Because now the fur is looking much more natural. It's almost like...." Maria paused for a moment, frowning at the antlers on Chopper's head. "...It's almost like you're a deer of some kind."

Chopper's eyes widened in surprise. "You can tell I'm a reindeer?"

"Well, the antlers kinda gave you away. But, other than that...." Maria shrugged. "So, what Devil Fruit did you eat?"

"The Human Human fruit." Chopper smiled slightly and rubbed the back of his head. Maria thought he seemed pleased that someone was taking such an interest in him and his abilities.

"Human Human?" Maria blinked, then smiled herself. "That's serendipitous."

"Huh?" Chopper frowned. "What do you mean?"

"If a human had found that fruit, it wouldn't have done them any good. Since you found it, you can use it in order to be a doctor that people can understand -- and you can use human tools without worrying about holding them in your hooves in your natural form." Maria smiled, glad to have gotten that statement out.

Chopper reaction was certainly unexpected by the amnesiac. It was as though his entire body had turned into a noodle that was wiggling almost constantly, while the little reindeer exclaimed, "Aw, that won't make me happy, you dumbass!"

Maria became a little taken aback by this, and Nami, taking note of her reaction, came over and explained, "He always does that when he's happy. You get used to it."

Maria looked over at the orange-haired navigator for a moment, blinking in slight confusion before giving a hesitant expression. "If you say so."

"So, what exactly have you remembered so far?" Nami pressed. "If you've been here for a week, you might have been able to get at least _something_ back."

"Well, I have," Maria admitted, rubbing her left arm with her right hand somewhat nervously. Talking about memory recovery with people that she knew yet didn't know felt so strange! "It isn't all that much, though -- at least, I don't _feel_ like it is. From what I know right now, I've been to a land before that was completely populated by strange creatures that had all these different abilities -- and they were _born_ with them, too! No Devil Fruits or anything." A frown flitted over her face for a moment. "In fact, I think I'm friends with a few of them."

"That sounds so COOL!" Luffy suddenly burst out, surprising Maria when he threw his fists into the air, grinning like an idiot. "I wanna go see those things!"

"That's kind of the problem, though," Maria spoke up quickly. "I've been hanging around the docks for the past few days in order to see if anyone coming for repairs knows me and my past. Whenever I brought up something involving a recent recovered memory, everybody just looked at me like I was crazy or something."

Luffy lowered his hands and frowned, blinking a few times upon hearing Maria's statement. "It's gotta exist, though. Like Sky Island."

"Sky Island?" The amnesiac was confused. "Where's that?"

"It's an island, but it's up in the sky!" Chopper exclaimed, waving his hooves hands in the air excitedly.

"An island _in_ the sky?" Maria's eyes widened in amazement while, at the same time, a quick flash of something went through the back of her mind: a chunk of rock without anything holding it up from below, and a strange shrine with a large, bright green gem. It didn't have the familiar feel of a memory...until she saw the red, porcupine-like animal in front of the green gem, that is.

"Is there anything holding it up?" Maria asked.

"Only the clouds," Nami responded.

"Shishishishishishishi!" Luffy laughed through his teeth again. "That place was so cool! We had to fly in order to get up there!"

"R-really?" A grin split Maria's own face. "That sounds so cool! What else have you guys done?"

That questions jump-started a long line of stories from the Straw Hat pirates, detailing their escapades up in the sky with a man made of lightning and working their way backwards from there to the beginning of the Grand Line, detailing their adventure against a man who could turn into sand. Occasionally, one crew member speaking would pause upon reaching a point when they almost mentioned something -- or someone -- that they didn't like, but then another crew member quickly took over by completely skipping over the fight, conversation, or event that they didn't to talk about.

By the time they were done, however, Maria was so immersed in what had happened to the pirates that she didn't even notice the purposeful skips that had been made by the storytellers.

"Wow!" Maria exclaimed, grinning in such a way that rivaled Luffy's own. "You guys have had some awesome adventures! I hope that my memories will come back with adventures just as awesome as yours!"

"Shishishishishishishi!" Luffy was clearly delighted by Maria's praise, while the other members of the crew present looked at the amnesiac as though she was insane. "Yeah! And then you can tell us about what you remember!"

"Definitely," Maria agreed. She was about to say something else, but then a yawn interrupted her and slipped through her lips.

"It's getting late," Sanji agreed, nodding as Maria finished yawning. "Nami-swan and Maria-san should get their beauty sleep."

Maria looked at the cook in surprise upon hearing the extra syllable added to her name while Zoro sent Sanji a glowering glare.

Nami gave a nod. "Thank you, Sanji. There should be enough room for all of us to sleep, even with Maria here with us. Come on." She grabbed Maria's arm and led her towards the beds while the boys scattered in different directions.

"Thanks for giving me a place to stay for now," Maria stated as she and Nami arrived in the bedroom area of the rented out hotel room.

"No problem," Nami replied brightly. There was a strange light in her eyes that Maria didn't exactly feel too sure about. "Besides, someone's probably out looking for you -- maybe they even have an award set out for whoever brings you back!"

"What she _means_ to say is that we're more than willing to help for _free_ ," Zoro stated in a gruff, annoyed tone as he sent Nami a glare.

Nami glared back and raised a fist. "What was that?"

"You don't have to do everything for money," the swordsman continued, glaring at the orange-haired teen.

"Yeah," Luffy agreed. "Like with Alabasta."

_ BONG! _

Nami's fists slammed into the two teens' heads, leaving large bumps that comically swelled up.

"...Well, I don't know about money, but I'm sure that my friends would be willing to repay you in any way they could," Maria commented, appearing somewhat nervous upon seeing Nami's angry beatdown.

Nami gave Maria a brightened smile as soon as the words were out of the girl's mouth, but she looked a little greedy in the process. "Good! Now, get to sleep! We've got to make sure you're in good condition when we find your friends!" The navigator pushed Maria towards one of the beds, and Maria stumbled for a moment before finding her balance again.

"Okay, okay!" Maria yelped, laughing. "I really need to rest, anyway." She clambered underneath the covers of the bed she had been pushed towards -- without even taking off her shoes -- and snuggled close against the blankets. Even though the lights in the room were still on, Maria managed to somehow fall into a deep sleep in seconds.

** Change in POV **

The crew watched Maria fall asleep for a moment before they turned and exchanged glances with each other.

"You saw how Maria flinched before she mentioned those strange creatures, right?" Sanji asked, sounding concerned. "Do you think recovering memories causes her pain somehow?"

"It's likely," Chopper admitted. "But I won't know for sure until I give Maria a check-up. She seems healthy for someone with memory loss, but there could be wounds that she's hiding that even she doesn't know much about -- maybe she was hit on the head and what she _claims_ to be a memory -- that storm she mentioned -- could be just a dream that she subconsciously made up in place of the real memory. It could be possible that she's actually lying in order to go somewhere that she needs to go and can't otherwise."

"Well, we won't know until she explains herself," Zoro remarked gruffly. He walked over to the closed door of their room and sat down cross-legged, then leaned his back against it and crossed his arms over his chest. "Something tells me she's telling the truth, though."

"About what?" Luffy asked while Sanji stared at the green-haired swordsman in surprise.

"The memory loss thing. We've caused enough trouble to get to be known worldwide by now, and she didn't look one bit scared when she followed us here." Zoro folded his arms across his chest and closed his eyes. "If she'd known, she wouldn't have even set foot back into the city and probably would have stuck with Usopp instead."

Sanji blinked for a moment, then gave a nod. "Moss-head's right," he noted. "If Maria didn't have memory loss, she'd probably try to stay away from us as much as possible. Well, from Luffy, Zoro, and Robin, any rate, since the rest of us don't have bounties yet."

"And I doubt you're going to get one, Dartbrow." Zoro didn't even bother to open his eyes to look up at the cook as he spoke.

Sanji gritted his teeth and was about to issue a retort when Nami got in front of him and waved her fist threateningly.

The blond cook looked away with a snort. "Whatever. It's late. If I'm going to find Robin tomorrow and tell her about what happened, I'm going to need to get my rest." He turned and walked over to a bed on the other side of the room and climbed in without another word. Nami quickly followed suit, choosing a bed near Maria to climb into.

Luffy remained sitting cross-legged on his bed for a moment, looking around the room at the figures lying under the covers. A cheeky grin crossed his face, and one arm stretched over to the nearest light switch, which he promptly flipped, sending the entire room into darkness seconds before he climbed under the covers himself.


	6. Not-A-Quite-So-Sunny-Morning

**Dream Break**

_"Waah!" Maria skidded back from the boulder-like creature that was throwing rocks at her. Already, her back and shoulders were sore from getting hit by them, and it hurt even more than she had expected them to. After all, they were just rocks, right?_

_There came a groan from the girl's right, and she turned her head in order to see who had spoken. Her eyes locked with experienced, brown orbs, the rest of the creature's face hidden under a bone-like mask that covered his entire face._

_"Not only do you have amnesia, you know nothing of Pokemon Types!" the creature exclaimed. "Your partner never informed me that his friend was so incompetent!"_

_"Excuse me?" Maria bristled. "Like you might have fared any better against the whatever-it-was that hit me!"_

_"How do you know you were hit?"_

_"I woke up with a headache on the beach, that's why!" Maria glared over at the boulder-creature, then her vision became slightly distorted as she slipped around to one side of it and rammed into it, sending the boulder flying a short distance before collapsing, swirls replacing his eyes. The girl looked back at the masked creature. "I may remember something of Pokemon Types if you refresh me a little bit, though, Marowak."_

_The creature -- now named -- let out another huffing noise before consenting. "Pokemon are separated into different leagues of power, depending on what element they are born with circulating through their veins. For instance, you as a Vulpix have the power of Fire."_

_Maria glanced behind her and twitched six red tails before looking back at Marowak. "I gathered that much from when we went into the Drenched Bluffs."_

_"Which is good enough for me. There are a total of seventeen known Types in the Exploration Guilds in this area, and each Types has their own strengths against other Types, as well as their weaknesses." Marowak pointed a bone at Maria. "You as a Fire-Type are weak to Water, Rock, and Ground-Types, and are strong against Grass and Bug-Types. Anything else is still suitably damaged, but you may want to learn more than just Fire attacks if you're going to continue entering dungeons that don't like Fire-Types too much."_

_Maria gave a nod. "I've got Faint Attack right now, and that's more than enough."_

_"Yes, for now. But you're going to need to learn other kinds of attacks in order to take on stronger opponents who may know something of your Faint Attack ability. I suggest taking advantage of Throwing items whenever you get the chance, lest you run out of energy for that particular move."_

_"All right. Thanks, Marowak!"_

**Dream Break**

Maria awoke, somehow breathless and excited from what she had seen during the night. _No visions! I'm sure of it! All of what happened last night...I can remember all of it! And all of it -- every last instant -- was from my memories! And such strange ones!_

"Well, look who's up."

Maria turned her head, and blinked for a moment before smiling lightly at seeing the Straw Hat Pirates already up and sitting around in various corners of the hotel room: Nami by the tangerine trees, Zoro by a large pile of weights that Maria doubted _anyone_ would be able to lift, Sanji in the kitchen, and Chopper and Luffy next to each other on Luffy's bed, the little doctor watching Maria while Luffy was drooling all over the bed covers watching Sanji.

"You were fidgeting in bed for a minute there," Sanji commented, shifting a frying pan on the stove. Maria was sure that she could smell eggs and bacon in the hotel room, and it was making her stomach react -- minus the noises.

Maria chuckled slightly. "That's probably because I was getting memories back. And I remembered a lot last night, too."

"Any clue as to who you are?" Chopper asked eagerly.

Maria shook her head. "No, not yet." A frown flitted over her face. "But it was kind of weird...I mean, I _was_ one of the creatures in that memory. I don't know how that happened, though...but I'm getting the feeling that I'm not actually _supposed_ to be one of them." She looked down at her hands and clenched and unclenched them for a moment before looking back up at the pirates and offering an apologetic smile. "Sorry if that confused you -- I mean, it's still confusing to me."

"So long as you're getting a grasp on something, it's fine," Sanji replied coolly. He turned his attention to his frying pan for a moment longer before flipping its contents -- an omelette that looked like it was stuffed with bacon and different vegetables -- onto a plate that he'd managed to pull seemingly out of nowhere.

Zoro huffed and rolled his eyes at the blond cook, but he didn't move from his spot next to the weights.

"Here, Maria." Sanji sashayed over to Maria's bed and handed her the omelette, a fork and a knife stuck underneath it. "You're going to need a good breakfast in order to wake you up properly."

Maria blinked at the omelette for a moment, then up at the cook. Her stomach was _screaming_ for food -- something it hadn't done _at all_ during the last week -- and something told her that being presented with the opportunity to _actually_ eat was the reason why.

A smile graced the teen's face, and she eagerly accepted the offered food before digging into the omelette. The amnesiac didn't even bother to stop when Sanji came back over with a glass of what looked like some sort of fruit juice; she finished off the omelette with a flourish before glugging down the drink.

The pirates looked at Maria in complete and utter bewilderment. Maria thought that she heard one of the boys say, "She eats almost as fast as Luffy does!"

Maria wiped off her mouth using an orange jacket sleeve before licking her lips in case anything had been left behind. A huge grin came over her face. "That was delicious! I've never tasted food that good before!"

"You're sure?" Sanji asked. There was an excited glint in his eyes as Maria nodded vigorously.

"Do you cook food this good all the time?" Maria asked.

"But of course! Why wouldn't I?"

The amnesiac wondered if Sanji's one visible eye had turned into a gigantic heart, but she shrugged it off as a trick of the light. So she simply grinned, starting to feel energetic from the breakfast. "You're an awesome cook!"

Sanji practically _melted_. Maria watched with a bemused expression as the cook collapsed to the floor, his limbs turning into noodles. As soon as the blond cook had fully collapsed, however, the amnesiac burst out into laughter.

The other members of the crew looked at each other for a moment before bursting out into laughter themselves. The sound of the the others laughing got Sanji to his feet faster than Maria had expected, but the actions he took after that got to be even more interesting.

Because the cook made a beeline straight for Zoro and aimed a kick at his head.

The green-haired swordsman moved his head to the left, avoiding Sanji's foot by mere centimeters. The teen's laughter stopped short, and Zoro started to reach for the swords at his side, a dangerous glare coming over his face.

"You think I'm funny, moss-head?" Sanji growled, glaring down at Zoro.

"Yeah. Because you're always falling over yourself, _love cook_ ," Zoro sneered. He elbowed Sanji's leg away from his face and got to his feet, pulling two of his three swords out of their sheaths in the process.

Seconds later, the blades started flying while Sanji's leg lashed out, both teens attempting to hit the other while somehow managing to stay in the same spot and not do any damage to the hotel room.

Maria watched the blades and kicks fly with wide eyes, looking between the looks of concentration that were on the two boys' faces, as well as taking note of their stances: Zoro with one foot behind the other, shoulder-length apart, leaning forward a little as he struck with his swords, and Sanji, balancing easily on one foot while his hands were in the pockets of his pants. It was incredible that the cook was able to counter the swords with his shoe, much less stay upright from the force that Zoro put behind his attacks!

Luffy started laughing at the two's antics, as though it was something that he saw simply as entertainment. Chopper looked nervous, and Nami was just downright annoyed.

"Sanji, Zoro, stop!" the orange-haired girl barked. "Now's not the time for this! You can do it when we get a new ship and find Robin!"

The two boys paused and looked over at Nami, Zoro looking downright annoyed while Sanji suddenly gained a lovey-dovey expression. Maria was surprised to find that the heart she had seen replacing his eye before was definitely _not_ a trick of the light.

The expression that came over Luffy's face, however, did not go unnoticed by the amnesiac: the grin that had been on his face faded away pretty quickly, and the pirate captain suddenly gained a sullen expression that clearly said that he was thinking about something that he would rather forget.

"Of course, Nami-swan!" Sanji exclaimed, moving away from Zoro with legs that looked like they were made of spaghetti. "I'll get on it right away!"

"Thank you, Sanji," Nami stated, relieved.

"Tch." Zoro put his swords away and crossed his arms over his chest in an annoyed manner. "Yeah, sure, send him to go find her. He's probably got a better nose than Chopper if he's going to find Robin."

"And what are you going to do, moss-head?" Sanji asked, his voice not so lovey-dovey now that he was talking to the swordsman.

Zoro jabbed a thumb in the direction of the weights. "I'm going to train."

Maria's eyes widened slightly in awe. _Those weights are Zoro's?_

"You must be pretty strong already in order to lift those," Maria commented. She slipped out from under the covers of her bed and crossed her legs. "Are the swords just as heavy?"

"No. They're just like any other sword. I train so that I can give more damage." Zoro turned towards the door and opened it. "I'm going up to the roof." With that, he walked out and shut the door behind him.

"I'm heading out, too," Sanji commented. "I can't just let Robin stay lost. Who knows what trouble she's managed to get herself into?" He quickly dashed for the door and disappeared, calling, "Wait for me, Robin-chwan!"

As soon as Sanji had disappeared out the door, Luffy got to his feet and left the hotel room abruptly -- not even bothering to look back at Chopper, who scrambled out after him, or Nami and Maria, who watched the two leave with concerned or befuddled expressions.

Nami let out a sigh and shook her head. "I'd better get going, too. That explosion last night could have gotten some people's attention, and there could be bad rumors going around, too, considering what Luffy, Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper did to the Franky House yesterday."

"Franky House?" Maria repeated, blinking. A frown flitted over her face. "That sounds kind of familiar for some reason...."

"It's the base of the Franky Family," Nami explained. "Or, it _was_. Luffy and the others completely destroyed it."

"They did? Really?" Surprise crossed Maria's face. "Wow. They must be _really_ strong then."

"Yeah. I guess they are." A slight smile came across Nami's face for a moment, but that soon disappeared. "Are you going to be okay in here by yourself? Or are you planning on doing anything?"

"Well, I normally go down to the docks every day to see if there's anyone there that knows me." Maria gave a one-shouldered shrug. "But I'm not really sure if I want to do that or not. Paulie would be worried if I don't, but I trust you guys because of the visions I've gotten. Besides, being with you guys got me more memories back in one night than I've received for the last week, and I don't exactly feel like moving from this bed."

"Well, do what you want, but make sure that you remember where the hotel is, okay? This is going to be where we're staying for now, since we don't...have a ship."

"Yeah, sure. No problem." Maria gave a quick nod. "Don't worry; I'm good with directions."

The orange-haired navigator gave the brown-haired amnesiac a slight smile, then turned and stepped out of the hotel room without another word. This left the blue-eyed teen sitting on the bed alone, a small smile on her face and nothing particularly to do.

It really seem didn't take too long to the teen before the smile shifted into a frown, and Maria let out a sigh of boredom.

"Being on an actual bed is nice and all, but I probably should go and do something...Paulie's expecting me back at the docks. I'd better go and make sure that he knows I'm all right." With that, Maria uncrossed her legs and slid off the bed, adding to herself, "I should probably let him know that I've found people who might be able to help me, even though we don't really know each other."

The amnesiac slipped out of the hotel room and moved quickly downstairs to the lobby before walking out of the hotel. Now that she was actually staying there with the Straw Hat pirates rather than sneaking around like some criminal, she wasn't too worried about being seen by the hotel staff.

Not that she really _should_ have been worried, Maria considered as an afterthought.

Outside, the sun actually had only just cleared the horizon, surprising Maria. Normally, she slept in until the sun was already high in the sky, but not even high enough to consider it to be noon.

"The memory must have woken me up," Maria noted, frowning slightly. "It's strange, though...I don't even feel tired right now -- it's almost like my body's actually used to being up this early...." The amnesiac shook her head. "I don't need to think about that now. I've got to find Paulie and get to the docks to let him know that I'm all right."

Her gaze went around the area, and she caught sight of the same yellow yagara that Usopp had used the night before -- the pirates must have gotten him from the rental shop when they came into the city and didn't even realize who had last used it. The amnesiac shifted her orange jacket a little, then calmly walked over to the yagara and got down into a crouch in front of the sea creature.

"Hi," Maria stated softly. "Do you remember me from last night?"

"Niiii," the yagara replied, nodding its head.

"Do you mind giving me a ride? I have to get down to the shipwright docks in order to meet somebody. I'd probably be able to swim there, but my friend may be worried about me if I don't get there sooner."

The yagara neighed again, and Maria untied the yellow beastie before getting into the boat on its back. Seconds later, the two were moving off through the canals towards the water elevator and the Docks. Thanks to the yagara's speed, they managed to reach the area in minutes...only to discover that something was wrong.

"What's going on here?" Maria muttered, frowning when she saw the crowd gathered in front of the closed Dock 1 doors. "I don't hear any sort of brawl going on right now...and there isn't anyone cheering on their favorite foremen, either...." Her grip on the yagara's reins tightened. "I hope nothing bad's happened in there."

The yagara neighed in a concerned tone, as well.

"Come on. Let's go ask somebody what's happened." Maria gave a the yagara a slight, encouraging smile, and the yellow sea creature complied, moving close to the sidewalk next to the Dock 1 entrance and the crowd.

"Excuse me," Maria called, from her seat. "Can someone tell me what's going on?"

A man turned and looked back at Maria before surprise graced his features. "Oh, hey! You're that amnesiac that's been hanging around the area! Where'd you get the yagara?"

"It's kind of on loan at the moment," Maria replied quickly, wanting to get to more pressing matters. "Please, could you tell me what's going on?"

"You mean you haven't heard the news?" The man blinked a few times. "You normally sleep around here, don't you?"

"The foreman made me move, so I found a different place to sleep last night. I pretty much only just got up."

The man gave a slight nod. "Smart on their part. I wish they'd had that much thought concerning what happened last night."

"What do you mean? What happened?" Maria's grip tightened on the reins even more. "Did something happen at the Docks?"

"No -- it was way worse than that. The Galley-La Company building was invaded last night. Iceberg was shot."

_Galley-La...that's the name of the group that all the shipwrights are a part of! And Iceberg...._

Maria's eyes widened as she recalled the man with the dark blue hair who had been at Dock 1 the day before with Luffy and Nami. "Oh, no! Is he all right?"

"From what I know, he's still alive, but it's going to be a while before he's on his feet again. The problem is who did it."

Maria frowned in confusion at the man's statement. "Why? Is it that hard in order to hunt them down?"

"Nobody knows who it is." The man shrugged.

"I think it was Franky," stated a woman standing nearby, turning around to join in on the conversation. "This is what we get for letting someone like him roam free around here."

"Franky?" Maria blinked in confusion.

"He's the leader of the Franky Family -- their ringleader." The woman scoffed with disgust. "He's been causing trouble in this city for who knows how long, and it was only a matter of time before he decided to do something this drastic."

"But...I was told that they only go after pirates." Maria's eyebrows knit themselves together into a look of concerned confusion as she thought back to what she knew already. "Why would they go after Iceberg? He's not a pirate, is he?"

"No, he's the mayor! Of course he isn't a pirate!" The man gave a hollow laugh, but stopped it when the woman next to him gave him a glare. A slightly concerned expression appeared on his face. "But the Franky Family is always going after people with big bounties on their heads -- apparently, they're going after the Beris for some reason. They could have wanted to go into Iceberg's safe and get some of his, but they wouldn't need to go to his room in order to do that, I don't think."

"He may have known the combination and didn't tell them," the woman offered.

"But...wouldn't it be possible to discover the combination _without_ going to the mayor?"

Maria was starting to get the feeling that the man and the woman were going to be of even less help with Iceberg's shooting than the number of holes in her memory, so she decided to ask something else.

"Any idea where Paulie is?" Maria asked, interrupting the man before he could speak again.

The man paused, his mouth open for a moment before he closed it and frown in thought. "The foremen might be in the docks, but everything's been closed off because of last night. They're not letting anybody in -- and it doesn't look like there's any work going on, either."

"OK...so I guess I'll have to wait to talk to Paulie until later." Maria frowned out of concern, reaching up with her left hand to pull on the bill of her red and orange baseball cap. "And you're sure that nobody knows anything about what happened last night?"

"Well, some people have their suspicions, I guess, but I really think it's got to be the Franky Family." The man looked at the woman, who nodded in agreement. "I mean, there was the news that the Franky House was completely destroyed yesterday, and then there was that explosion last night, so they _have_ to be up to something."

"Still, something doesn't feel right...." Maria crossed her arms over her chest. "I don't like this. It feels like something bad is going to be on the horizon, but...I'm not exactly sure what."

The amnesiac bit her lower lip to prevent herself from saying anything else. No one had to know why the explosion happened last night, considering that it was a private event among the Straw Hat pirates that needed to be dealt with. As for the Franky House...she wasn't sure as to why Luffy and the others had decided to attack it and destroy it yesterday, but something in her gut told her that it was because of Usopp somehow.

"Well, you can keep your thoughts of that to yourself, I guess," the man stated calmly. "You'll probably hear more about what's going on later, but I'd suggest that you get moving."

"Huh?" Maria looked up at the man in confusion. "Why?"

"There's a lot of strange things going on lately, and who knows where those attackers are from last night. They could have been the pirates who made you lose your memory for all you know."

Maria stiffened a little in her seat on the yagara, and she could feel some of the blood drain from her face as a strange noise that sounded like a laugh echoed at the back of her mind, accompanied closely by the sound of rumbling thunder and the sea's shifting waves. A shudder ran down her spine a second later.

"Yeah, you may be right," Maria commented nervously. The amnesiac was pretty sure that it hadn't been pirates who had decided to attack her -- wherever she had been -- and caused her to gain memory loss, but there was something about the man's words that made her think that she actually might _not_ be as safe in Water 7 as she had once thought....

"I'm going to get going, then, and keep my ears open," Maria finally stated. She gripped the reins of the yellow yagara and, after giving a nod to the man and the woman she had been conversing with, the amnesiac got the sea creature moving back the way they had come.

As the yagara swam through the canals, Maria worriedly thought back to what had happened the day before in the docks -- and how Iceberg had interacted with Luffy and Nami. The man did seem to be a little stiff, even though he _clearly_ didn't like government people, but the man had also been kind enough to help them when it came to their ship...even though they weren't going to be able to use the _Merry_ anymore....

Maria shook the thought out of her mind. She didn't have time to think about that right now. If Iceberg was considered a friend to Luffy, then she had to go and warn him about what had happened. Zoro and Chopper, too, since Nami and Sanji were out in the city and probably had heard from the locals already.

"Come on," Maria murmured urgently to the yagara. "We have to get back to the hotel and warn the others about what's happened!"


	7. The Straw Hats were Framed!

When Maria arrived back at the hotel, she leapt off the yagara's boat, hurriedly tied him to a post -- while thanking him for the quickly ride from the docks to the hotel -- then dashed inside and ran up the stairs towards the roof. She knew that Zoro, at least, was going to be up there, and he might know where Luffy and Chopper went to after they left.

At least, the amnesiac _hoped_ he would have an idea. And even if he didn't, Maria had to tell _somebody_ who was a part of the crew.

It didn't take the amnesiac to scramble up the stairs at breakneck speed and reached the door that led to the roof. She nearly slammed into it were it not for the fact that it was already open, causing Maria to stumble out onto the rooftop.

"...heard he's still unconscious," Nami was saying, standing on the opposite end of the roof. It looked like she was talking to someone; Maria caught sight of a figure sitting hunched over on a rooftop nearby with a straw hat perched on top of his head.

Sanji turned and caught sight of Maria standing in front of the entrance to the lower levels, panting heavily from scrambling up the flights of stairs to the roof. "Hey, Maria. Where have you been?"

"I went down to the docks to see if I could find Paulie," Maria replied, her breathing calming down as her heart rate slowed. "The docks are completely closed down, and no one's seen the foremen. I heard that Iceberg was shot last night while I was there."

"Yeah. Nami just told us." Sanji had a grim look on his face that made Maria wonder if he had any luck finding their missing crew mate, Robin. "I heard something about it when I was going through town looking for Robin. Who is Iceberg, anyway?"

"He's the nice man who helped us out so much yesterday," Nami replied, turning her attention from Luffy to the crew's cook. "He's the president of the ship-building company, Galley-La, as well as the mayor of Water 7."

Sanji let out a hum out of interest. "Sounds like an important guy."

"Yeah," Nami agreed. "It's pretty much the worst thing that could have happened to this town...."

Something shifted on the rooftop behind Nami, and Maria's gaze moved upward, only for her to catch sight of Luffy getting to his feet.

"I'll go check on him," the pirate captain called out. With that, he jumped off the building he was sitting on and landed on the sidewalk below.

Nami ran over to the balcony and called down to him, "Wait up, Luffy! I'm coming with you!" With that, the orange-haired navigator turned and dashed back down the stairs.

"Well, on that note, let's go look for Robin," Sanji suggested. "Come on, Chopper." He started walking towards the door himself, but then stopped and looked over at Zoro, who had been sitting on the ground with his legs crossed and his arms folded over his chest. "What about you?"

"Well, I think I'll just wait a while," Zoro replied. He leaned back against the pillar-like construct behind him and out his hands behind his head while looking out over the city. "See how things turn out."

Sanji looked down at Zoro for a moment, then turned and walked away without another word, his hands in the pockets of his pants. This left Maria standing alone with the swordsman on the roof of the hotel.

The amnesiac bit her lower lip as she considered her options: follow Sanji to find the missing crew member, follow Nami and Luffy to check in on Iceberg, or stay here in the hotel with Zoro until one of the two groups comes back with news.

_ Well, if I'm going to get to know the crew from my visions a little better, then I may as well start now, _ Maria finally decided. Besides, while the crew did explain some of their adventures, they didn't really go into their _own_ quirks or how exactly it was that they came to join the crew...or anything much at all, really.

Maria moved away from the still-open door and sat down cross-legged in front of Zoro, clasping onto her ankles with her hands and rocking back and forth for a moment before stopping her movement.

Zoro glanced over at her, raising an eyebrow in a somewhat curious manner. "You're still here?"

"I would have gone out to look for Paulie, but the docks are closed off, so I can't exactly go in to see if he's there," Maria responded, her expression remaining somewhat blank. "And I don't really know Iceberg, so there wouldn't be much of a point in going to check on him, and I don't know what your crew member Robin looks like, either, so there really isn't anything that I can do right now."

"So you're just going to sit here and wait, huh?"

"It's not like I have anything better to do." Maria shrugged. "I'm going to have to sit out for a while before going back into the city, I guess." She let out a sigh. "Not really like I know of anything else that I could do."

Zoro eyed the strange girl, causing Maria to wonder if the green-haired swordsman was considering either ignoring her or doing something else with his time. Like training using the weights that were down in the hotel room. Or maybe actually _leaving_ the hotel in order to do something on his own.

The amnesiac's own gaze moved down to the three swords that were sheathed and slid through the green stomach band that went around his waist. A strange question flitted through the back of her mind.

"Do you use _all_ three of those swords at once?" Maria asked, returning her gaze to Zoro's face.

"What's it to you?" the swordsman responded.

"I'm just curious." Maria shrugged. "Do you?"

Zoro shrugged. "Sometimes." He brought his arms from around the back of his head and placed his hands on his knees. "Depends on how strong my opponent is."

"Really?" Maria's eyes widened slightly. "How do you manage to hold three swords at once?"

Zoro gave a slightly smirk that gave him a knowing expression that bordered on the mischievous and the sinister. "In my teeth."

"Really? You're jaw's gotta be really strong in order to be able to handle something like that in the middle of a fight." Maria's blue orbs sparkled with awe and amazement at the swordsman's ability. "You guys are really incredible, you know that, right?"

Zoro's smirk widened slightly. "Heh. I guess we are." The smirk faded a little. "You know, most people take one look at us and either think they can take us on or run and hide their heads in the dirt."

Maria blinked for a moment, then cocked her head to one side. "Is it because you're pirates? I mean, you guys did a lot of good things for people all over the place."

"Eh, well...a lot of people don't see those and just stop listening after hearing 'pirate'. The Marines' doing, probably."

"Do the Marines really hate you that badly?" Maria frowned. "Have some of them gotten to know you guys?"

Zoro snorted. "All they think about is hunting us down. They probably don't see us as anything much different from other pirates, what with the bounties on our heads."

"Bounties? You have bounties?" Maria blinked a couple times. "That's usually only if you're considered a bad guy, right?"

"Sheesh, you really _don't_ know anything, do you?"

A frown came over Maria's face. "Well, I have amnesia, what do you expect?" An eager shine came into her eyes seconds later. "You guys mentioned that you had bounties last night, though. How big are they?"

"It's only Luffy, Robin, and me," Zoro stated. "That stupid love cook didn't even managed to get one in Alabasta, when I did." A grin came over his face. "I've got 60 million, Robin has 79 million, and Luffy's got 100 million."

"Wow...that's a lot of cash on your heads." A frown flickered over Maria's face. "You said that you got your bounty in Alabasta, Luffy got his _started_ back in the East Blue, but...where and when did Robin get hers?"

Zoro shrugged. "She hasn't said, but there are rumors."

Maria's blue eyes blinked in confusion. "Rumors?"

"Yeah. Robin said that she got her bounty when she was eight, and it hasn't changed ever since. The government's been looking for her ever since then, but _why_ is spread around the bounty hunters. Everybody calls her the Demon of Ohara, but no one knows where that is, since it isn't on a _map_ , and no one knows _why_ she's called that, either." Zoro shrugged again. "Nico Robin is as much a mystery as her bounty is."

Maria blinked a couple times. She hadn't expected Zoro to spout _that_ about Robin, and much less sound so experienced about it. Or eloquent, for that matter.

Then the rest of his statement hit Maria pretty quickly.

"Wait. How would _you_ know what bounty hunters talk about?" Maria asked, blinking.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "You haven't heard? Before I joined Luffy, I hunted down pirates for their bounties."

"Y-you did? Then why did you join him?"

Zoro's face darkened. "...that's a story that can wait."

Just then loud siren suddenly rippled thorough the air, causing Maria to stiffen in surprise as a voice soon started to echo throughout the entire city.

** "Your attention, please. This is the Water 7 Forecasting Center. As of now, an Aqua Laguna Severe Weather Warning has just been issued for the entire island. It's arrival time is estimated to between midnight and twelve-thirty." **

Zoro turned his head upon hearing the voice, not even looking surprised upon hearing the loud voice echo through the city. Maria, however, was somewhat shaken out of the suddenness of the short statement.

"Aqua Laguna?" Maria repeated, her eyes wide. "What's that? It sounds like the name of a hurricane or something...."

"Then they would have called it a hurricane warning, wouldn't they?" Zoro pointed out in reply. A frown came over his face. "How would you know about what a hurricane is, anyway?"

Maria blinked for a moment, then shrugged helplessly. "It just popped into my head, that's all. I don't know where it came from."

"Well, I guess that's more of your memory coming back, then." Zoro leaned back again and placed his hands behind his head before closing his eyes. Seconds later, it appeared as though the swordsman had fallen asleep.

Maria sat still for a moment, but then decided to follow Zoro's lead and take a nap herself. She scooted over to a portion of the balcony near Zoro and leaned herself against the stone bars, warmed by the morning sun. After adjusting her red shirt and orange jacket from her movement, Maria yanked down on her red and orange baseball cap and closed her eyes.

** Dream Break **

_ Maria looked around the area where she was now standing: a room with a floor that was completely covered in grass, and walls made of dirt and a window with an opening out to a view of a large body of water. There was a smell in the air that made the amnesiac think of the sea. _

_ "What is this place?" the girl asked quietly. "It seems so...familiar. Almost like a second home." _

_ "This is Wigglytuff's Exploration Base." _

_ Maria stiffened slightly, then turned in order to look in the direction of the voice that had come from behind her. She looked down in slight surprise upon finding the yellow, mouse-like creature with the bright red cheeks and a thunderbolt-shaped tail. _

_ "Pika, right?" Maria asked, blinking. "A...." A frown came over her face. "What kind of animal are you, anyway?" _

_ "I'm not an animal -- I'm a Pokemon. A Pikachu." Pika walked over to Maria on his hind legs and stopped by her feet before looking up at the amnesiac. "You knew that already, though -- we met on the beach and came here after you helped me get my treasure back." _

_ "Treasure?" Maria blinked in slight confusion before Pika pulled out a strange stone with an intricate pattern carved into the flat surface. It looked strangely familiar. _

_ "It's the key that let us get up to Temporal Tower," Pika explained, a half-smile gracing his features. "I don't have it anymore, but I still consider it my treasure." _

_ Maria hummed absently out of thought, frowning slightly. The word "treasure" echoed around in her mind for a moment, but that soon faded into the background. _

_ "What are you doing here?" Maria finally asked. _

_ Pika shrugged. "I'm a figment of your mind. You tell me." _

_ "Well, that explains why you sound a little different from the memories I've seen of us so far...." Maria frowned, her blue eyes darkening as she became lost in thought. "But...there's still a lot I don't know. I don't like how helpless I feel because of that." _

_ "Don't worry." Pika grinned. "That didn't stop us before." _

_ "B-before?" _

_ "Yeah. This isn't the first time that you've had amnesia, after all." _

** Dream Break **

Maria cracked her eyes open when she felt herself get shaken vigorously. The amnesiac found herself blinking in confusion as she looked up at Zoro, who seemed tense.

"What's up?" Maria asked, any grumpiness from having her memory recovery interrupted forgotten.

"We're getting out of here," Zoro replied. "Now." He glanced over his shoulder at the door leading to the stairwell, which had some rather angry-looking people coming out of it with pitchforks, hammers, and other everyday items that looked extremely dangerous.

"How?" Maria quickly scrambled to her feet, watching the people behind Zoro.

"We jump."

Before the amnesiac could respond to this, Zoro roped an arm around her waist and jumped from the balcony down onto the sidewalk below, with Maria letting out a short yell of surprise. They were down on the ground in seconds, the swordsman standing on his feet and not looking so much as shaken from the drop.

"You're pretty heavy for someone your size," Zoro commented, dropping Maria unceremoniously to the ground.

Maria let out a grunt as she hit the ground, but managed to somehow scramble to her feet. Her heart rate was going at a mile a minute, but somehow, she had managed to escape the drop unharmed.

"And you are the most reckless guy that...that I can remember at the moment," Maria snapped in reply. "A drop like that could have killed us!"

"It didn't." Zoro didn't bat an eye to Maria's slightly terrified exclamation. "Come on, we should probably keep moving."

"Uh, yeah...sure. But...why were those people coming up on the roof after us? You guys haven't done anything to Water 7, have you?"

"No. But I wouldn't put it past Luffy that _he_ might have done something. Stupid captain." Zoro muttered what sounded like a string of curses under his breath.

"There he is! It's the pirate hunter, and he's kidnapped Maria! Get him!"

Maria stiffened, then turned sharply to glare in the direction that the voice had been coming from -- yet _another_ crowd of people rushing towards them. "Kidnapped? I'll have you know that --"

"It's no use trying to reason with them," Zoro interrupted. He grabbed Maria's left arm and forced her to run down the sidewalk after him.

"We won't let you get away with shooting Iceberg!" someone yelled after the duo.

Maria would have stopped out of shock if it wasn't for the fact that Zoro still had a tight grip on her arm.

" _They_ think you guys shot Iceberg last night?" Maria repeated, shocked. "Where did _that_ come from? The people I was speaking to at the docks thought that it was the Franky Family who did it!"

"Those guys can't go two steps without causing a racket," Zoro replied gruffly. "It's got to be a trained assassin."

"An _assassin?_ Where did you get _that_ idea?"

"It's the only one that makes sense!" Zoro barked back, glancing over his shoulder at the amnesiac. "We were out on the ship and in the hotel. The Franky Family was probably still licking their wounds. It had to be somebody else."

Maria blinked in befuddlement for a moment, not exactly sure what that would mean. "But...who would go after Iceberg?"

"I dunno. But...something tells me Luffy's going to want to find out."

** Time Break **

Maria let out a growl of annoyance as she looked up and down the alleyway. Just a few minutes ago, she had been following Zoro (who had finally let go of her arm) in order to avoid the angry mobs, but then the swordsman had decided to just up and vanish!

The amnesiac blamed herself for not being able to keep up with the pirate, but she was relieved to find that she wasn't being chased at the moment.

"I've got to find the Straw Hats," Maria muttered, frowning to herself. She turned and walked out of the alleyway and onto the Main Street, looking around at the area. There wasn't very many people around, and those who were around looked like they were ready to jump at anyone who happened to look suspicious, even though they were boarding up their windows and doors with metal plates.

_ Maybe they're preparing for Aqua Laguna? _

Maria shook her head to clear out any questions about the storm; she had to find the others, not dilly-dally and wait for something to happen.

_ Maybe they're hiding in plain sight? Or...wait -- Luffy went to check in on Iceberg! He could be over at Dock 1 right now -- or near the main building, at any rate. I'd better go and find him!  _

With that thought, Maria turned and took off down the street and dove into a canal, her baseball cap surprisingly managing to stay _on_ her head even when she hit the water and started swimming down the canal. The amnesiac could see that people were sending her strange looks for swimming in her clothes _in the canal_ , but Maria ignored them. She had a crew to find, and she had to find them fast.

The teen scrambled up onto the sidewalk again and started running when yagaras and their riders started to float into view. The amnesiac felt like she was running on adrenaline, and her clothes didn't feel as heavy or wet as they usually did when she came out of the water.

Maria turned a corner and ran down an alley, catching sight of what looked like the shopping district on the other side of the buildings she had been running next to. Not but a few steps into it, however, and she was suddenly hit with a large headache that caused the teen to go down on one knee.

A second later, her vision went dark, and was quickly replaced by Dock 1...but the entire area was completely in shambles, and Luffy was lying in the wreckage. Nearby, there stood a man wearing nothing but a Speedo and a button-up shortsleeve shirt that hung open...as well as the five foremen of Galley-La.

Luffy looked absolutely shocked, then grew angry as he yelled at the foremen.

_ "You're wrong! If you knew Robin, there's no way you would say that! So TAKE THAT BACK!" _

Maria's vision quickly cleared, and it left the teen completely confused.

"Another vision?" Maria murmured, frowning. "But...it must have just happened. My other visions have all been from the past -- or something along those lines. Since when have I managed to shift from part to present?" The blue-eyed amnesiac shook her head, causing some of her brown hair to shift in front of her face. "I'll think about it later. I've got to find --Gah!"

Maria bent over double a second time as her vision was flooded again with more visions: Iceberg, lying in a bed and covered in bandages, speaking with Luffy.

_ "No doubt about it, I saw Nico Robin here last night." _

Maria caught sight of Luffy's shocked face, but then her vision shifted to show a strange, green lizard creature with a leaf growing out of the top of his head. There was a strange, knowing smirk on his face that made Maria wonder if he was friendly...and if she knew him from somewhere.

_ "We have to keep moving. In this place, anyone could be an enemy." _

The vision of the strange lizard faded, and Maria felt something twist in her gut. "Grovyle...."

"Maria! Is that you?"

Maria lifted her head and locked eyes with the dark orbs of a familiar figure. "Chopper? Man, am I glad that I found you! We've got to get to the others before the townspeople do -- everybody thinks that you guys were the ones who shot Iceberg!" A frown flickered over the girl's face when she saw that the doctor -- who was in a natural reindeer form -- was alone. "Hey, weren't you with Sanji?"

"Um, yeah...about that...." Chopper looked worried and nervous. "We have to find the others before I can really explain. Your scent was the first one that I managed to catch, so I don't know where the others are yet. And this wind is really starting to pick up speed -- Aqua Laguna's gotta be pretty close, now."

Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing the name of the storm again. "Yeah, probably." The blue-eyed amnesiac got to her feet and walked over to the Straw Hat's doctor. "Well, they probably won't be back at the hotel -- and if they are, they won't stay there long. A few shipwrights kinda forced Zoro and I to run from there, and then we ended up getting separated. They haven't been chasing me, though -- probably because I'm not a part of you guys' crew. The shipwrights at the docks know me already, so they must've thought Zoro kidnapped me instead of me going to you guys willingly."

"This entire city is crazy," Chopper murmured, shaking his head. A moment later, his blue nose started to twitch, and he turned his head down the street. "They're down this way!" The reindeer quickly dashed off, forcing Maria to scramble around the corner in order to follow after him.

"Who's down this way?" Maria asked. "Is it Nami and Luffy?"

"And Zoro!"

"So they all found each other?" A grin appeared on Maria's face. "That's great! Now we won't have to worry about trying to hunt them down all over the city!"

"Yeah, I know!" As Chopper ran, he shifted suddenly from being a four-legged reindeer to being a two-legged muscular man. Maria's eyes widened in amazement at the sudden transformation.

_ Alt-mode to bi-pedal, _ echoed a voice at the back of her mind. Before Maria could understand what _that_ meant, the thought was gone.


	8. Robin's Betrayal?

Zoro let out a sigh of relief, holding his white sword close in the crook of one arm, while the other two lay along his right leg. "Looks like the crowd cleared out."

Maria, who was sitting cross-legged to the left of the swordsman, nodded in agreement. She looked out over the city from the flat rooftop they had managed to find, relieved that her newfound friends weren't being chased. But...Sanji's absence still worried her. And the still-unknown Robin was missing, as well.

"Yeah, no thanks to you!" Nami barked in reply. "I'll have you know that Luffy and I had a perfectly good hiding spot until you led that mob straight to us!"

"Like I said, with that many people looking, they were going to find you anyway." Zoro sounded somehow bored, like he'd been over this a million times.

"Oh, yeah, that reminds me." Luffy turned his head to look over at Chopper, who was sitting next to the black-haired pirate captain. "How did you know we were down there, Chopper?"

Maria bit down on her lower lip to keep herself from bursting out into laughter again at the memory.

Somehow, Chopper had managed to find the trio dangling under a stone bridge, with Luffy gripping the sides with his hands and his feet and Zoro and Nami sitting on his stomach. The rubber teen had been so surprised at seeing Chopper's face when the doctor bent down to look under that he had let out a yell and released his hold on the bridge, causing himself, Zoro, and Nami to fall into the water. Luckily, Zoro and Nami had managed to get their captain out of the water and gotten the water out of _him_ so that they could get to a safer spot -- the rooftop. Maria hadn't been of much help initially -- she had burst out into laughter as soon as she had heard Luffy's exclamation of surprise and the loud splash that had followed. It was only later that she realized that Luffy's couldn't exactly swim because of his Devil Fruit ability.

"Your smell," Chopper stated simply. He was back to his small, adorable form that made him look more like a stuffed animal than an actual living, breathing animal.

"Ah, shoulda known. But wait -- wasn't Sanji with you?" Luffy gave the reindeer a curious look, obviously expecting an answer.

Chopper lowered his gaze from Luffy's face. "Well, he was."

The little reindeer doctor then launched into an explanation about what had happened and why Sanji wasn't with him. Apparently, the two _had_ managed to run into Robin, but she had told them that she was leaving the crew -- and she was leaving the blame for the attempted murder on them while she made her escape. Sanji and Chopper had tried to go after her, but the woman had disappeared. Sanji said he had a plan and went off on his own after that, telling Chopper to go find the others and tell them what had happened.

Maria's eyes widened when she heard what Robin had told the two before disappearing. "She carries a darkness inside her...? What does that mean?"

"No way!" Luffy suddenly burst out, clearly angered. "That doesn't make any sense! Did Robin _really_ say that to you?!"

Chopper gave a slight nod, appearing troubled himself.

Nami didn't move, and for a moment, Maria wondered if they had grabbed statues instead of the real crew members, but then Zoro closed his eyes and shifted one of the swords at his side. "We were prepared for this, weren't we?"

"Hmm?" Maria looked over at Zoro, as did Luffy, Chopper, and Nami.

The swordsman brought down his white sword -- still sheathed -- and let its end land on the rooftop with the sound of shifting metal. The sword landed between Luffy and Nami.

"After all, Robin _was_ our enemy before we let her join the crew," Zoro added.

Maria stiffened for a moment, but then she remembered what the Straw Hat pirates had told her the night before, when they were telling her about their adventures. The sand kingdom of Alabasta was where they picked up Robin. And she had served as the right-hand woman of the leader of an evil organization called Baroque Works, which had been working towards creating a perfect, utopian society.

The organization had been completely taken down by Luffy when he had defeated the man known as Crocodile, and all the agents had been arrested...except for Robin, who had joined Luffy and the others.

"This might be the only chance to find out the truth, so we shouldn't run away."

Chopper nodded in response to Zoro's statement, while Maria looked over at the green-haired swordsman with an expression of concern and worry.

"There's still a lot of things we don't know about Robin. Now it's time to decide if she's a friend, or a foe." Zoro turned his gaze then from all three of his crew mates to just the reindeer as he pulled his white sword back and let it rest at his side with the others. "Chopper, what Robin said -- 'The situation will get worse. From this day forward, we will never see each other again.' You're sure that's what she said?"

Chopper nodded, a determined look coming over his face.

"She says she won't see us after today and that things are going to get worse. Maybe that means that the attack on Iceberg was just a warm-up and she has something even bigger planned for tonight."

Maria looked around the group for a moment, then realized that the sky was starting to gain different shades of color -- already, the clouds were a soft orange, which most likely meant that the sun was starting to set. The night was approaching faster than she would have liked...which meant that whatever was going to happen that night was going to take place in a few hours.

The amnesiac swallowed nervously, and she felt a cold gust of wind blow past, prompting her to pull her orange jacket closer and zip it up over her red shirt -- as high as the jacket let her.

"I don't know why Robin's doing any of this," Zoro continued as Maria zipped up her jacket, "so it's hard to make a guess as to what she's planning. Seeing how much a commotion her first attack on the mayor caused, there's only one way to make things worse."

"In other words, she'll _murder_ him," Nami stated grimly.

Maria stiffened. Murder...she knew the definition of that word without even having to recover a portion of her memories. To kill without a reason that was right according to the laws of the country...that deserved death in and of itself in some places, didn't it? Was this Robin person really that heartless?

Somehow, "heartless" and "darkness" connected together at the back of her mind to form a strange, black, two-legged imp with antenna on its head and bulbous, yellow eyes that sent chills down Maria's spine.

Robin couldn't look like _that_ , could she? The amnesiac hoped that she didn't.

"I think that's what she's _trying_ to tell us, at least," Zoro admitted. "Also, since she told Chopper she's be pinning the crime on _us_ , it could be that she's feeding us all these little hints to lure us out to the crime scene tonight."

"Think so?" Chopper questioned somewhat stiffly. Maria took note of the frown that was on the little doctor's face, and wondered was going through that mind of his. Then her gaze moved up, and she saw that Luffy had a similar frown on his face.

"If that _is_ her plan, it would be convenient for her if we _did_ happen to show up, since that would put us at the scene of the crime."

Nami looked either annoyed or angry at the swordsman's statement. "You say you don't know what she's thinking, but it sounds to me like you've already decided that she's our enemy!"

Maria flinched a little at the accusatory tone Nami had taken -- _I don't think you want to get hit right now, Zoro --_ but the swordsman didn't even flinch.

"I'm talking about possibilities here, that's all," Zoro stated calmly, his gaze moving to lock with Nami's. "We should always be prepared for the worst-case scenario, understand? If I get locked into a single line of thinking, it will only slow me down. If she's my friend, I have to be ready to forgive."

Zoro's hand moved down to his swords, and he pushed the white sword out of its sheath a little, revealing the blade in the twilight. "If she's my enemy, I have be ready to fight."

There was silence on the rooftop for a moment while Zoro's words sank in. Maria felt chills all over, even though she was well protected from the cold air. It took her a moment to realize that the chills were coming from _inside_ her -- a reaction to Zoro's words? Or maybe something else from her memories?

A flash of darkness went across her vision for a moment, and she caught sight of a figure that looked like they were made from a cloak of blackness, with a strange, red collar, and a white, wispy-like substance coming from the top of the figure's head. The red eyes hidden under the wisp looked angry, but then the creature's entire stance changed to one of confusion, and the red eyes changed to an expression that clearly was of pure curiosity and confusion.

_ "Please...will you let me join you? I...I don't know what happened between us before, but...something tells me that this should repay any bad blood between us." _

The sound of Zoro sliding his sword back into his sheath brought Maria out of her thoughts with a jolt.

"Our best chance to settle this is tonight," the green-haired swordsman stated seriously. "Are we going?"

"Of course," Luffy replied instantly, having shifted to lock eyes with Zoro's.

The group sat on the rooftop in silence after Luffy's short statement, and Maria got another twist in her gut. She wanted to be able to help the pirates out, but she wasn't part of the crew in the first place, and fighting off angry hordes of shipwrights wasn't exactly something that she wanted to do, either.

Something told her she _might_ be able to handle them, but Maria wasn't sure whether she should trust herself with that thought or not.

"It's not that I object to the plan," Nami suddenly stated, catching the amnesiac's attention, "but we're still forgetting something. Sanji said he saw Robin walking with someone in a _mask_ , remember? Obviously, that wasn't anyone of us, but Iceberg said the same thing -- that he was attacked by a large man wearing a mask he didn't recognize." She frowned. "Whoever he is, I bet he's the reason Robin's doing all of this stuff."

"Yeah!" Chopper suddenly spoke up, looking over at Zoro. "That means it isn't really her fault and we just need to beat the real bad guy, right?"

Maria blinked at the statements from the navigator and the doctor. _If that's true...then who's the bad guy?_ The teen looked over at Zoro, wondering what the swordsman's answer was going to be.

"That's the ideal situation," Zoro admitted. "But on the other hand, it's possible that this guy could be one of Robin's friends."

"The problem is that we don't have much to go on other than 'a big man in a mask'," Nami responded. "So, where do we even start? I mean, what is our goal here?"

"We find Robin and capture her," Luffy stated flatly. He bowed his head a little, hiding his face under the brim of his straw hat.

Nami and Chopper looked at their captain in shock, while Maria blinked a couple times, her expression blank.

The way Luffy was speaking, it almost sounded like he had decided on what they were going to do as soon as the conversation had started.

"That's the only way we'll ever know the truth." Luffy put a hand on his hat and started to get to his feet.

"You're right," Zoro agreed, causing Maria to turn and look at the swordsman. "We're wasting time here trying to figure it out. Just one thing -- Robin won't be easy to catch. After all, the World Government's been trying for twenty years, and it still hasn't happened."

_ World Government? The world is one entire country? _ Maria blinked a couple times. _I wonder how that got started...or who's idea it was in the first place...and how corrupt it's gotten._

The teen's blue eyes widened slightly when she heard herself think the last part of her train of thought. _Corrupt? What made me wonder if the government is corrupt?_

"Like he said, it's the only way we'll know for sure," Nami stated as she started to get to her own feet.

"Yeah, let's settle this right now," Chopper agreed.

Zoro shifted and rose to his feet, and Maria quickly moved up onto her own, as well, feeling that she would look foolish if she was the only one still sitting down on the rooftop.

Seconds later, Maria felt the others' gazes on her, and she looked back at the trio somewhat nervously.

"So, what are you going to do?" Zoro asked, raising an eyebrow at the amnesiac.

"M-me?" Maria squeaked. "I-I'm...." The girl paused for a moment to consider her options, then shrugged helplessly. "I'm not sure. It's kind of between following you guys or going off on my own to find Paulie. He's gotta be at least a little bit worried about me, since I always hang around near him when Dock 1 is open." She rubbed the back of her head with one hand as she added, "And...there could be a chance that I could convince him that you guys aren't the bad guys."

"You think you could do that?" Chopper asked, his eyes widening slightly.

"Maybe." Maria shrugged helplessly. "I haven't exactly tried something like this before...that I can remember, that is."

"Well, it's obvious to me that you don't know how to fight, so it might be a better idea if you went to the shipwrights," Nami suggested. "If anything, they may be able to protect you from the real culprits."

"You think so?" Maria blinked for a moment.

"Well, they are really strong."

Maria considered the orange-haired navigator's words for a moment, then gave a slight nod. "All right. I'll go and find Paulie. Good luck finding your missing crew mate."

With that, Maria turned and moved over to the edge of the rooftop, glancing down somewhat nervously at the sidewalk below before turning her attention to the other rooftops that were positioned nearby. Steeling herself, the amnesiac looked down at the sidewalk again...and jumped off the roof. Within a few seconds, she made contact with the ground below with a shaking crash that made the sidewalk look like it had become _cracked_ where Maria had landed.

The amnesiac didn't notice, however -- she just simply got up from the crouch she had gotten into when she had landed and looked herself over. An amazed look crossed her face when she realized that she had managed to land intact, but then a determined look replaced it, and the teen started running around the sidewalk in search of shipwrights who might know where Paulie was located.

** Time Break **

When Maria finally found Paulie, the sun had already sunk far below the horizon, and the entirety of Water 7 was a ghost city.

"Paulie!"

The blond shipwright turned upon hearing his voice called, and his eyes widened in surprise when he saw Maria run over to him and the group of shipwrights that were with him. "Maria? Where the hell have you been, kid?" His eyes moved to see the puddle of water that was starting to gather underneath the amnesiac. "And why the hell are you wet?"

"I don't have a yagara, so I swim across the canals instead," Maria replied quickly. "Listen, Paulie -- I have to talk to you about the Straw Hats."

_ That _ got Paulie's attention, but the question he immediately asked made Maria extremely nervous.

"Do you know where they are?" Paulie demanded, the other shipwrights around him brandishing their saws.

"Not...not right now." Maria hesitated for a moment before stating quickly, "Paulie, they're not the bad guys! They couldn't have been the ones who shot Iceberg!"

"Kid, they're _pirates_ \-- of course they're the ones who did," Paulie replied gruffly. "You don't know them because --"

"I stayed last night in their hotel room! Of course I know them!" Maria barked back, clearly seething. "They're _not_ the bad guys! They were out with their ship for most of the night before they went to the hotel and left their ship and a former crew member behind!"

"Former crew member? What the hell are you --"

"There was an explosion last night, out on the cape," Maria interrupted again. "Luffy was in the middle of a _duel_ , and his crew was _watching_. I know -- I was there. There's no way that any of them could have done that to Iceberg. Besides, the only one among them who _would_ have carried a gun uses a _slingshot_ instead, and he _left_ the crew because he didn't take the news about the ship too well! As far as I know, HE'S STILL ON THE _GOING MERRY_!"

The shipwrights looked at Maria in befuddlement while she panted, attempting to regain her breath from her shouting fest. Paulie's cigar looked like it was about to fall out of his mouth, but the precarious perch on his lower jaw was a usual sight whenever the shipwright opened his mouth to speak, so he wasn't losing that one.

"I'm telling you...the truth," Maria stated, looking up at the men starting around her.

"Then how do you explain Nico Robin doing what she did, huh?" one of the crew members burst out.

"How should I know? She wasn't there when they were having their duel -- their cook went out this morning to look for her, but didn't hear from her until she told them she was leaving and pinning the blame on them." Maria looked somewhat concerned. "Nami thinks someone may be forcing her to do all of this -- the large guy with the mask."

"And what makes you think you can trust her?" Paulie demanded coldly. "She's a pirate -- and a scantily clad one at that!" The blond shipwright shuddered. "She could be lying for all you know."

"No, she wasn't." Maria shook her head. "Something tells me that she and the others were telling the truth. They're all worried about Robin and want to find out what's going on as much as you do, believe me."

"Well, your gut feelings may be _wrong_ ," Paulie shot back. He looked around the city for a moment and let out a noise of distaste. "The shelters are probably all locked up, now that the storm's so close. You may as well come with us to Galley-La's main building. It's probably the safest place for you to be right about now." The shipwright reached down and grabbed Maria's right arm before turning and walking off down the street, the other shipwrights following close. "Keep an eye out for those Straw Hats!"

Maria sighed irritably. _Well,_ that _went well._

The amnesiac kept her mouth shut the entire trip to the Galley-La building, her eyes scanning the rooftops for any sign that Luffy and the others happened to be following them. She didn't pick up any sign of them, but Maria couldn't help but get the feeling that they _were_ on the move. Somewhere.

Maria wasn't sure how she knew this, but something told her that it had to do with who she was.

It was Paulie who ended up breaking the silence.

"Listen, kid -- there's a lot of things that are going on right now that I don't know anything about, but the Straw Hats are right in the middle of it. If we're going to get down to be bottom of it, then we have to get the Straw Hats and figure out what it is that they've done as a part of all this."

Maria eyed the blond shipwright. "They're as clueless as you are. Don't you get it? That's why Luffy responded the way he did back at Dock 1 when you mentioned Robin being in Iceberg's room last night."

Paulie raised an eyebrow. "How'd you know about that? I didn't see you with the immoral girl."

Maria's eyes widened. _Oh, shoot! Why did I let that slip out?_

"Uh..." Maria chuckled nervously. "I...uh...."

"Kid, do you know something that I don't?" Paulie's eyes narrowed somewhat.

"It's more like I'm relearning things about me as I go," Maria replied quickly. "And no, I didn't eat a Devil Fruit -- the Straw Hats asked me that already."

"I kinda figured that already," the shipwright grunted in reply. "If anything comes up, let me know, okay? Maybe we can figure out where your friends are."

"Well...I doubt that what I've recovered so far will be of much help to that...since I'm only remembering a bunch of monsters so far...."

"Monsters?" Paulie appeared skeptical.

"Yeah...I mean, how else do you describe creatures that can control the elements without eating Devil Fruits? They call themselves Pokemon, but...I'm not exactly sure _why_."

"Sounds like you've got your memories mixed up with some sort of fairy tale," Paulie scoffed.

"Mmmmmm...." Maria could tell that Paulie's statement wasn't true, but she wasn't about to tell him down for it. Something told her that, like with the Straw Hats' innocence, he wouldn't believe her statement.

The group soon arrived at the building. Paulie pushed Maria into an office on the second floor and told her to stay there until he came to get her the next morning.

When the shipwright left and closed and locked the door behind him, Maria couldn't help but get the feeling that she was going to disobey the shipwright's order if the Straw Hats and the real culprits were going to show up. Something was shifting in her gut, and it was telling her that there was a chance that she was going to have to fight.


	9. Attack on Galley-La!

Maria paced up and down the office Paulie had pushed her into, feeling increasingly nervous for a reason that the teen knew absolutely nothing about.

She felt like she had experienced this feeling somewhere before, but whenever the amnesiac tried to think back to when she had first felt it, she was confronted by different flashes of pictures that disappeared as quickly as they had come: a tower that was crumbling, the sky swirling in an angry red; a deep abyss filled with Pokemon that weren't truly there; a volcanic island covered in darkness...and multiple other places that Maria couldn't really recognize. And the wind that was rattling the windows from the outside wasn't exactly helping the girl's mood, either.

All in all, it felt like a night that no one was going to forget so easily -- and for all the bad reasons.

The amnesiac's thought was confirmed when, at quarter to ten, a loud explosion suddenly shook her out of her thoughts of strange mazes and elemental creatures appearing at every turn. Shaken from the noise, Maria ran over to the window and looked down in order to see what had just happened, but she saw smoke and flames rising from up the front of the building.

"They're attacking!" Maria exclaimed, alarmed. "This is bad...that came without warning! But...what does that say of the real people behind all this? What are they planning to do with Iceberg?"

_Are they attacking out in the open? But...the shipwrights were preparing for an attack like this. Surely they'd be ready for someone like this. Unless...are the real culprits really that strong?_

Loud yells came from outside of the room, and Maria heard people yelling as footsteps were rammed into the wooden floor. Something about people coming this way and causing a lot of damage all over the building..and the people on the first floor needing reinforcements in order to keep a major fire that had sprung up under control.

_Fire...?_

Something at the back of Maria's mind that she should go out and try to help, but her own misgivings made her hesitate.

 _What am I going to be able to do against these attackers?_ Maria swallowed at the thought of running into one of these masked figures -- maybe even the one from the night before -- and having something happen to her.

_But...what would happen if Luffy and the others ran into them? And ran into Robin...and she wasn't so friendly anymore._

At that thought, a small, dark space within Maria came to light with a spark. A small flame spurted up, lighting up an area of the amnesiac that hadn't been lit before -- or, at least, hadn't been lit for the last week or so. From the flame, a strange warmth spread through Maria, going from her chest down to her fingertips, making Maria wonder if someone had managed to turn up the heat in the building -- had the fire spread that far?

Maria reached up and unzipped her orange jacket, letting it fall loose and showing her red shirt underneath. The teen had hoped that would solve her strange heat problem, but it didn't do anything to cool her body down. She considered actually taking _off_ her jacket for a moment, but Maria quickly shot the thought down -- there was no way that she was just going to drop that jacket like it was dead weight.

The warmth increased suddenly, and the amnesiac's hands moved instinctively, as though they were gripping something invisible. Maria watched with wide eyes as a glow started to come from her hands, followed closely by a blast of light that forced her to look away for a moment. When the light faded, and her gaze returned to what her hands had been reaching for, her eyes widened in shock.

"What the...where in the world did _this_ come from?" Maria looked over the object in her hands with clear amazement and awe.

It was a staff that was made of wood that was a bright red, and thick enough that her fingers couldn't touch each other. At the top of the staff was the intricately-carved form of a phoenix with its wings circled slightly around itself, carved just so that the entire thing looked like it had been made out of fire. The phoenix's head itself also looked dangerous, considering just how sharp the beak had been carved, but there was also strangely wise look in its eyes.

"Is this...is this how I was able to fight before I lost my memory?" Maria murmured, turning the staff over in her hands. Her gaze went to the door, and the curious expression that had been on her face changed to a dark, determined one instead.

Moments later, the door knob had been knocked off from the inside, and Maria pushed the door open and stepped into an empty hallway.

The teen looked down at the staff in her hands, feeling a strange warmth emanating from it. A knowing smirk appeared upon the girl's face, and it quickly turned into a grin.

"This feels right," Maria stated, nodding to herself. "Let's see if I can remember how to fight with it." The amnesiac looked up and down the hallway. "But first, I've got to find the others and make sure that they're all right -- or, at least, that the shipwrights are okay. That explosion I heard earlier could have hurt a lot of people."

With that, Maria flipped her red and orange baseball cap backwards, then turned and started running down the hall. She wasn't sure where the hall would lead her, but she was certain that she'd find something that she'd be able to help with on the other end.

At the end of the hall, there was a corner, which Maria quickly turned, holding her staff in both hands so that neither end would get in the way of her feet. She quickly came to a screeching stop, however, her eyes becoming the size of dinner plates.

"Wh-what--" Maria nearly lost her grip on the staff for a moment, but she quickly gripped it more tightly. Her body was shaking in shock at what she saw in front of her. "What _happened_ here?"

Maria's gaze went over the hallway in front of her, scanning the collapsed forms of the shipwrights that happened to be lying there. Weapons and saws were lying all over the place near the collapsed men, but it wasn't this that set Maria on edge.

It was the sight of what looked like pools of blood coming out from underneath a couple of the bodies.

Maria could feel the blood drain from her face. _Who...who could have done this? It looks like someone just rampaged through here and completely destroyed everybody!_ She swallowed, and the picture of a grinning man with a metal nose and teal hair that stuck up in the front came to mind.

The amnesiac shook the picture out of her mind. _Nah, it couldn't be the weird guy who was fighting Luffy. He's more likely to make it look like a bomb went off in here, I think. It's got to be someone way more dangerous than that...I didn't even hear a fight going on out here when I was in that office!_

"Well, no use standing around," Maria spoke aloud. Her voice felt unnaturally loud, what with all the collapsed people near her. Some of them might even be -- _no, no, don't think about that, there's no way that any of them_ could _be...I think._

Cautiously, the teen started to step around the fallen forms of the shipwrights, being especially careful not to step on any hands or guns that might have been lying in her path. If any small pools of blood were lying where her foot was about to step, a shudder went through Maria from head to foot, and she carefully maneuvered herself so that not a drop of the red substance found its way onto her shoes.

Maria had managed to get herself to a break in the area before stopping to take a breather. For some reason, being around these... _unconscious_...bodies was starting to pull at her heart and make her nauseous.

"These people didn't deserve to...to go through what they have," Maria murmured quietly to no one in particular. For some reason, the "d-word" didn't exactly want to come out of her mouth, and the amnesiac didn't even sense it forming at the back of her mind. Something about her...abhorred the idea of people dying for no reason.

Maria wondered if it meant that she had never witnessed it herself until now. If that was true, then there must have been something strange with the places she had been to before. Or, maybe she was just squeamish at the sight of blood.

But, if that was true, then...where did the phoenix staff come from?

_"I made a vow to myself that I would never kill anyone! Do you understand me?! I'm not a killer, and I'm not about to let anyone order me to force someone to die!"_

Maria blinked upon hearing the voice -- no, _her_ voice -- echo in her mind. She...she promised herself that she wouldn't kill anyone? Is that it?

Somehow, those words felt right.

Maria nodded to herself absently and started to work at moving past the next collapsed figure when she heard the sound of two people yelling. Her head shot up, and she looked over in the direction that she was going.

"It sounds like it's coming from over there!" Maria realized, her eyes locking on a set of doors at the end of the hall. "It sounds like there's someone behind that door!"

Settling on the new goal of getting to the door and finding out what was going on, Maria quickly moved across the floor with a lot more ease than she had before. Within about a minute, she had managed to reach the doors without stepping on or in anything, and she readied herself to knock a doorknob off again.

Maria raised her staff above her head, and brought if down on the door with as much force as she could muster. She didn't exactly remember how much strength she had put into her initial hit on the other door, but she figured that this would be just about enough to let her get the doors open. Swinging down, the teen let out a short yell as the phoenix came into contact with the metal doorknobs. The resulting impact sent a jarring wave up Maria's arms, but it wasn't enough to make her stumble or lose her footing. However, it was enough to dent the doorknobs at least a little.

Maria pulled her staff back from the doorknobs and lifted her left leg. Upon lifting it up, she teetered for a moment on her right leg, but then Maria placed the staff's butt on the floor so that she could have some extra leverage. The amnesiac then proceeded to kick the doors open.

After knocking against the doorknobs with her foot about three times, the doors themselves creaked open, allowing Maria to lower her left foot and step into the room beyond.

What she saw there was most unexpected.

"Luffy? Paulie?" Maria blinked in confusion as she looked down at the two figures. "What are you doing lying on the floor?"

"We're kind of pinned down at the moment," Paulie growled, pulling at the large, metal rings that were around his wrists. Identical rings also went around his ankles, knees, elbows, waist, and neck. Luffy in a similar situation, but without the ring around his waist...or the bloody holes in his clothes. "These two guys in masks from CP9 got us."

"CP9?" Maria blinked in confusion. "Who are those guys?"

"Probably government agents." Paulie pulled again at the bonds that held him down, but then let out a growl of annoyance. "I need you to go and get the shipwrights so that they can get us out of these things so that we can go after them!"

"Uh...yeah, about that...." Maria glanced behind her at the collapsed forms of the shipwrights in the hallway. "...I don't think I'm going to be able to find any _conscious_ help."

"Well, isn't that just great." Paulie growled in annoyance.

It was at this point that Luffy suddenly let out a grunt and managed to pull his head through the ring that was around his neck. The pirate captain bounced back and forth for a moment before his head hit the ring his neck had previously been under.

Maria blinked a couple times as she stared at Luffy before a smirk came across her face. "Hey, do you think you could do that with the rest of you so that we can get Paulie up?"

"Sure. Just give me a sec." Luffy grinned at Maria before lowering his upper body and starting to pull on his right arm. Maria wisely took a step back to avoid the rubbery appendage when it came flying out from beneath the two rings that were holding it down, stretching out for a moment before retracting with a _snap!_

"So, where'd you get the staff?" Luffy asked before he started to work on pulling out his left arm.

Paulie stopped his own struggling for a moment and looked up at the wooden object that Maria was holding with her right hand. "Yeah, where _did_ you get that? I haven't seen anything like that around here before."

Maria looked over at her staff before looking back at Paulie and Luffy and shrugging helplessly. "It just...appeared out of nowhere not too long ago."

"Bullshit. Stuff like that just doesn't appear out of nowhere."

"Well, this kinda did." Maria shrugged again while Luffy grabbed two of the rings embedded in the floor and started to pull back, grunting and glaring down at his legs. "I don't know how, or why. Just another mystery I can chalk up to my past, I guess."

Before Paulie could respond to that, Luffy suddenly exploded out of the rings that were holding down his legs and waist and hit the wall behind him. When the black-haired teen fell, one could clearly see a dent in the wall with cracks leading out from where Luffy's head had hit it.

"Easy!" Luffy exclaimed, getting to his feet and putting his hands up in the air. He turned to grin over at Paulie and Maria -- who was trying not to laugh at the shipwright's dumbfounded expression upon seeing Luffy do what he did best. "Cause I'm rubber!"

Paulie quickly recovered from his shock and started to shift under the rings again. "All right; good. Now help me!"

"No prob! Maria, you help, too!" Luffy ran over to Paulie.

"Yeah, sure." Maria gave a nod before moving over, as well. "I'll see what I can do, but I probably won't be able to do as much as you can."

"They're gonna pay...those masked bastards!" Paulie declared before he started pulling with even more ferocity showing on his face than before.

Maria got down on her knees near the ring that was wrapping around Paulie's left foot. The amnesiac looked at the metal for a moment before looking at the head of her phoenix and gaining an idea. Quickly, she maneuvered the wings of the carving under the ring and started to pull at the metal. At the same time, Luffy had managed to slip his fingers around a band on Paulie's right wrist and was pulling up. Luffy easily yanked he metal out of the floor, leaving two neat holes while the teen fell back, the metal flying out of his hands and embedding itself into a wall.

"What are these, giant staples or something?" Maria grunted, continuing to use her staff like it was a crowbar.

"Hey, you're probably going to break your staff," Paulie warned.

"No, I'm not." Maria's own answer caused her to pause and blink in confusion for a moment before shaking her head and going back to pulling on the metal band that was keeping Paulie's leg down. After more pulling and grunting, however, Maria had to give up and pull back, panting and sweating from attempting to remove just one ring of metal. "Sorry, Luffy, but I don't think I'll be able to get any of these off."

"All right." Luffy gave her an encouraging smile. "At least you helped, right?" He finished pulling off the band that was keeping Paulie's left arm down -- sending the metal flying through a window -- then moved over to the shipwright's feet and started to yank those up.

"Could you get the one at my neck so I can sit up?" Paulie demanded, annoyed that Luffy was getting his limbs first.

"Just give me a sec." Luffy yanked out the ring at Paulie's right knee, then went over to the shipwright's head and stood over the man, grabbing hold of the ring that was there and yanking up.

Maria followed the ring as it traveled upward, and let out a whistle of amazement when the staple stuck itself in the ceiling.

Luffy gave his signature laugh as he moved back to the shipwright's feet; Maria scooted back to give the pirate teen more room to work...and also more space for her to react in case one of the large, metal staples came flying in her direction. Meanwhile, Paulie sat up slowly, one hand rubbing his neck while the other one helped keep him up.

"Had you been having any more difficulty with these, I might have choked if you'd kept your hands there any longer," Paulie commented.

Luffy made quick work of the other staples, saving the one that had been around Paulie's waist for last. When that one had joined its brother in the ceiling, Luffy stepped back and clapped some unseen dust off his hands while Paulie got to his feet.

"Are you sure you're all right standing up like this?" Maria asked, her eyebrows scrunching together in worry.

"I'm fine," Paulie replied. "The one we need to worry about right now, though, is Iceberg. If these guys are after some stupid blueprints, then we need to get to him before they take him out."

"Do you think Robin's there, too?" Luffy asked, a serious expression suddenly crossing his face.

"Probably, if these are the guys she's working with, now." Paulie glanced over at Maria, who was leaning a little on her phoenix staff. "Sorry about not believing you earlier, by the way."

"Well...you believe me now, and that's what matters, I guess," Maria commented. "So, where's Iceberg?"

"In his room -- not like he's going to be moving around yet." Paulie turned and started running down the hall. "Come on -- it's this way."

Luffy was quick to follow after the blond shipwright, and Maria was quick to pursue the black-haired pirate captain. Despite the fact that Maria hardly knew anything about actually fighting, something told her that she might still be capable of assisting somehow.

Oddly enough, Maria was able to easily jump about from open spot to open spot on the floor without so much as tripping on a pistol or stepping on someone's fingers -- or in their blood. The amnesiac wasn't concentrating on where her feet were going, however -- she was watching Luffy and Paulie ahead of her as the trio moved through the halls -- passing by the room Maria had broken out of -- and towards a set of stairs...once again, covered in the bodies of collapsed shipwrights.

"Come on, hurry it up already!" Paulie barked, turning to look at the two teens as he reached the base of the stairs and glared at Maria and Luffy.

"You probably shouldn't be pushing yourself," Maria murmured in concern, her eyes going over the holes that peppered Paulie. _Those look like bullet holes, but...there's no way that someone could be moving from so many of those after getting hit!_

"I said I'm fine, didn't I?" Paulie growled in reply. "CP9 is probably already up there, so we should hurry the hell up and take them out before Iceberg gets killed!" The blond shipwright turned and started running up the stairs.

"And we have to get Robin back," Luffy added before running up after Paulie.

Maria started up the stairs herself, but then she hesitated a few steps up. She didn't want to run into this CP9 group so soon after gaining (regaining?) her staff. Shoot, the amnesiac didn't even know how to fight properly with it yet, and she was worried about what was going to happen if she got into a fight in this state. However, for some odd reason, her heart felt calm.

 _This...this feeling...it's like when I was watching the duel between Usopp and Luffy,_ Maria realized. _I have fought before, but...can I now?_

Instinctively, her hands gripped her staff even more tightly, as though her body was attempting to give her mind an answer.

"Maria!" Luffy called down the stairs at the amnesiac. "Are you coming or not?!"

Maria's blue gaze shot up from her staff to lock with Luffy's searching gaze. The pirate captain had stopped halfway up the staircase, with Paulie standing about a quarter short of the top.

"Uh...yeah, right." Maria let go of her staff with one hand and started running up the stairs herself, keeping her staff as parallel with the ground as she could so that the staff wouldn't cause her to trip. The amnesiac reached Luffy easily, and stopped beside him for a moment.

Luffy simply gave the girl a nod, then turned and ran up the stairs after Paulie, Maria following close behind.

The trip barreled down the hall, Maria looking around nervously at the back of the pack in case someone suddenly came flying seemingly out of nowhere.

The first set of doors they came across, Luffy suddenly came to a stop and turned so sharply to his left that Maria was forced to stop short so that she wouldn't run into him.

The captain took a few steps back and started to charge at the doors, yelling at the top of his lungs, while Paulie turned around sharply and yelled, "Hey, Straw Hat -- wait!"

The pirate captain didn't hear him, as he proceeded to ram through the doors and into a dark room, still yelling.

"This isn't the right door, you damned idiot -- Iceberg's room is the next one over!" Paulie barked, pointing further down the hall.

Luffy stopped yelling and turned to look at the wall to his right. "Yeah? Oh? Oops."

Paulie facepalmed while Maria groaned and shook her head.

"Well, only one thing left to do." Luffy to a step back and grabbed his right shoulder with his left hand before swinging it around like he was trying to wind it up. Then he threw his fist forward and slammed it into the wall.

Maria blinked in confusion when she saw that Luffy had only dented the wall. "You...you didn't even break it?" The amnesiac stepped into the dark room cautiously, Paulie following in after her.

Luffy didn't answer Maria's question. Instead, the pirate captain stepped back a couple steps before jumping forward, one of his feet going first as he went in yelling.

"GIVE ROBIN BACK!" Luffy roared.

"Luffy!" came an unidentified voice -- a woman's, one that Maria hadn't heard before. Her eyes scanned the figure in the room, and she caught sight of a blue-eyed, black-haired woman dressed in green who looked absolutely shocked.

_Is that Robin?_

"Luffy?"

Maria's gaze moved, and she caught sight of Zoro coming in through the door...which clearly had been cut to pieces.

 _I was wondering where he was,_ Maria noted thoughtfully.

When the rubble and dust had finally collapsed, Maria was able to get a better look around the room, which was clearly a bedroom -- why else was there a bed in there? Besides the strange, black-haired woman in green -- who had responded to Luffy's reaction so strongly -- there was Iceberg (bandaged and bleeding from one of his shoulders), a man with his hair shaped like bull horns, and....

 _The foremen and Iceberg's secretary?!_ Maria's eyes widened in shock.

"Robin," Luffy stated, panting, "I've finally found you."

"Hey, Luffy," Zoro spoke up, glaring over at his captain. "Where were you when we had to beat up all those shipwrights?!"

"Robin, why did you leave us?!" Chopper, in full reindeer mode, cried out.

"Hold on a sec," Nami murmured, looking a little nervous. "Something's not right here."

Beside Maria, Paulie looked as shocked as the amnesiac as his gaze went over the figures that were standing there.

One of the figures -- the black-haired foreman with the top hat and the white pigeon -- turned to face the hole in the wall that Luffy had made.

"Well, well, well," the man spoke, his voice smooth and bored.

Maria stiffened while Paulie's eyes widened.

"He...he spoke?" Maria squeaked. "Without the bird?"

Iceberg let out a groan as he started to look up from where he had collapsed. "P-Paulie...." His voice was weak, and it seemed to Maria that he had to be in pain. "S-Straw Hat...."

"Iceberg...." Paulie muttered. "What is this?" An angry, frustrated look came over his face. "WHAT THE HELL'S GOIN' ON?!"


	10. Betrayal! CP9's Identities Revealed!

"Paulie...." Iceberg wheezed. "Dammit...you should've run...."

"This doesn't make sense," Paulie muttered, looking around the room again with shocked eyes.

"I agree with you," Maria replied. "There's no way they could be government agents. I mean, they've always been shipwrights...right?" Her eyes scanned the room, catching sight of a strange, bull mask lying on the floor. Near it was a giant skull with yellow eyes and a fez, and a white bear's head with half-lidded eyes and its mouth partially open to reveal a row of spiky teeth along the upper jaw.

"You're making it look like...like you guys were the ones after Iceberg," Paulie continued. "But that _can't_ be right!"

Maria noticed that none of the foremen -- or the secretary or the bull-horned man -- were making eye contact with Paulie. Were they unhappy about what they had done? Or was it something else?

When no one answered Paulie, the shipwright changed to a different tactic: he let out a yell before a demanding question followed.

"What the hell are you doing with those weird costumes on?!" Paulie demanded. "Stop screwin' with me here!"

The group still didn't answer.

"Hey...Kalifa! Blueno! Kaku! Lucci! Say something, dammit!"

No one moved. Maria could see that Iceberg was struggling on the floor, but with what, the amnesiac wasn't exactly sure.

"Oh, yeah!" Luffy turned and looked over at Paulie. "Those are the same guys who were with you at the shipyard, right?"

"Actually...that square-nosed guy came to our ship," Zoro muttered, his arms crossed over his chest.

The swordsman's statement made Maria remember what had happened earlier the day before -- when she had first seen Luffy and Nami. Kaku -- aka, square-nose -- had said he'd seen the ship...and that he didn't think they could repair it. Pigeon guy -- Lucci -- and the secretary -- Kalifa -- had been present at the time, but Maria had never seen Blueno before. Maybe he worked somewhere that wasn't at the docks?

"I see...." Nami murmured. "Then the attack on Iceberg was an inside job."

"Hey, what?" Chopper was confused. "I don't get it."

Neither did Maria. She bit down on her lower lip nervously as she looked around at the people present. Somehow, she found her eyes locking with Robin's own blue orbs, and the amnesiac gave an instinctive, nervous swallow. There was something about the woman that made Maria uneasy -- mostly how she was being looked at. Like she was some sort of oddity that wasn't supposed to be there....

"Paulie."

Maria was shaken away from Robin's gaze when Lucci's smooth, bored voice reached her ears again. The amnesiac turned her head to look at the man with the pigeon on his shoulder.

"With all due respect, we are secret agents working for the government," Lucci stated. "But hey, you'll forgive me if I say I'm sorry, right?"

Maria looked over at Paulie, and wisely took a step away from the blond shipwright; the man was absolutely _seething_ with anger -- so much so that Maria was surprised that he hadn't exploded from it yet.

"We were comrades," Lucci continued, "building ships together from dawn till dusk. I realize this is quite sudden for you, so perhaps you'd believe me if I...smashed Iceberg's face."

Paulie tensed; Maria could see the muscles under his jacket bulging at the thought of the mayor of Water 7 getting pounded into the ground even more than he already was. Maria was tense as well, but she wasn't as ready to leap into action like Paulie was; she was worried about what these people were going to do to them.

And Luffy? He was just plain surprised.

"Just shut the hell up," Paulie growled, clenching his fists. "I've heard enough." The shipwright's entire body seemed to be shaking, and his eyes were shadowed over, making him appear even _more_ angry in Maria's eyes. "You were that guy in the bull mask, weren't you?! That was the first time I ever heard your voice! All those years...you never said a word...but you could talk just fine!"

Maria blinked. _Is that what he's so mad about? I mean, it's unexpected, but...I kinda think the real issue here is that he's one of the guys who's trying to kill Iceberg and pin the blame on the Straw Hats!_

"I'LL TEACH YOU TO MAKE FUN'A ME!" Paulie roared. The shipwright took off then, making a beeline straight for Lucci.

Maria tensed up, her hands tightening their grip on her phoenix staff. _He recognizes him by his voice and what mask he was wearing...does that mean they ran into each other? Does that mean...Lucci made all those bullet holes in Paulie?!_

"Paulie, stop it!" Iceberg called out.

However, his foreman wasn't planning on listening. Paulie kept right on going, and brought his left arm in front of him. "Five Hitch...Knives!"

A line of rope came flying out from Paulie's sleeve, knife blades attached by knots that ran the entire length of the cord. It would have hit Lucci dead on...if it wasn't for the fact that the man seemingly vanished into thin air.

"What--"

Paulie never finished his question. Maria watched Lucci fade in and out of sight as he moved around the knife-covered rope and right up in front of Paulie. The man formed his right hand into a fist -- leaving his index finger pointing out -- and he slammed it into Paulie's chest.

Maria's eyes widened, and she paled when she saw blood flying from the place Lucci had hit, and Paulie stumbling back as though he had been hit in the gut by a Gum Gum Pistol.

"Finger Pistol," Lucci declared emotionlessly.

"Paulie!" Maria exclaimed, terrified for her friend.

The two combatants stood there, Lucci standing still with his finger in Paulie's chest, and Paulie attempting to move, his breathing labored.

"You still haven't learned your lesson, have you?" Lucci questioned coldly.

Paulie's arms moved, as though he was trying to grab the rope and pull it back, but then they fell limp. After a moment, Lucci removed his finger from the shipwright's chest and stepped back, causing Maria to shudder when she saw that his index finger was _completely_ covered in blood. The government agent watched with disinterest as Paulie stumbled, trying to stay upright.

"Hey -- are you okay?" Luffy asked, concerned.

"Stay up, stay up, stay up," Maria chanted under her breath.

Paulie stumbled for a moment more, but then he managed to regain his footing and put his hands on his knees in order to stay on his feet, coughing and panting.

"Screw you...Lucci," the blond shipwright managed to wheeze out. Then he collapsed onto his knees, his legs giving out underneath him.

The pigeon -- which had flown off Lucci's shoulder when he had disappeared -- flew back onto the agent's shoulder with a coo.

"It's pointless to resist," Lucci commented, looking down at Paulie. "Our abilities far exceed those of a normal human, as you can see."

Maria's eyebrows scrunched together with worry. _Exceed those of a normal human? Does that mean...they aren't anymore?_

_"I'm...not exactly human."_

The tired voice that sounded so much like Maria's own made the amnesiac clench her teeth and become even more concerned than she already was. What in the world did _that_ mean?

"After many years of training, we've mastered an art called the Six Powers," Lucci continued. "These techniques transform the body into a living weapon with the strength of over a hundred men."

"L-living weapon?" Maria squeaked. "Th-that's bad. That's _really_ bad." She looked over at Luffy, but he was watching Lucci and Paulie rather than looking around. "The government is supposed to be the good guy...what made them think of teaching their agents this stuff?! It isn't right!" Maria shook her head, then felt another's eyes on her. She looked up cautiously, and found herself locking eyes with Robin again.

 _Okay, she's got the microscope look again...that's creepy._ Maria looked away quickly, instead moving her eyes to the phoenix staff in her hands.

"...After all this time...."

Maria looked up again when Paulie wheezed out his words, and she watched with wide eyes as the shipwright started to get to his feet again.

"...Why?"

Lucci's left hand came down and grabbed Paulie's shoulder, and the shipwright looked up and met the agent's eyes.

"Sorry, Paulie," Lucci stated coldly. He shifted his stance and moved his other hand back and above him. "Our friendship is over. I have to eliminate you."

Maria could feel her blood run cold, and she gripped her dragon staff more tightly as her legs' muscles bunched underneath her. _He's going to try that Finger Pistol-thing again._ The amnesiac's blue eyes moved down to the red staff in her hands, fear radiating in her eyes. _What should I do? I can't stand by and let Paulie get killed!_

"Lucci, no!" Iceberg exclaimed. "Don't!"

"Leave him ALONE!"

Apparently, Luffy felt he couldn't sit by either, because he kicked out with a foot that was clearly aimed at Lucci's head. However, the pigeon man saw it coming, and he moved his free hand and grabbed Luffy's foot.

"He...he caught it?" Maria squeaked in surprise. "And he wasn't even thrown back by the force behind it?"

Luffy looked surprised, but then a serious look came over his face, and he jumped up and brought a fist back while his leg retracted, pulling Luffy _towards_ Lucci.

Maria blinked in slight surprise upon seeing what Luffy was doing, and she grinned when she thought that Luffy might be able to whack him in the face.

However, what happened next caused Maria to wonder if the government agents really _were_ human anymore.

"Gum Gum...."

Lucci let go of Luffy's foot and stated flatly, "Iron Body."

"Gatling!"

Once again, Luffy's two fists seemed to multiply as his arms stretched and retracted. Every single hit made its mark...but they didn't seem to have any sort of effect. At all.

Maria shifted where she had been standing so that she could see around Luffy's flying fists. Lucci was standing with his legs apart and his fists clenched, leaving every single part of his upper half completely open as Luffy hit his shoulders and chest. It almost looked like every single muscle was tense..and that was keeping him from getting damage.

Luffy noticed this, as well, and he stopped throwing punches and landed on the floor of the bedroom, legs bent, one fist on the floor. He looked up at Lucci -- who was steaming where Luffy had hit him -- and noted in shock, "That didn't work at all!"

"What _are_ these people?" Maria yelped. "There's no way that they can be human! If Lucci was able to withstand an attack like _that_...." A shudder passed through her.

The steam faded from the air, and Lucci's body relaxed as he looked up at Luffy. "You're nothing but a pest. Shave."

Lucci instantly disappeared from sight, clearly moving in some direction before he vanished.

"He's gone!" Luffy sounded like he couldn't believe his eyes.

Maria clenched her teeth in fear as she started to look around with increasing nervousness. "And he can reappear absolutely anywhere..."

As Maria was speaking, she caught sight of Lucci moving again, reappearing and disappearing in a strange, zigzag pattern. On a whim, something told her that she had to get between Lucci and Luffy before the captain ended up getting hurt.

_Wait -- what? But that would probably kill me! I don't want to end up like what happened to Paulie!_

But the feeling persisted. As it did, and her heart seemed to tie itself in knots and unknot them, visions passed through her mind of her taking blows for others and still coming out intact. Most of the figures and the instances were really fuzzy, but there was one that stuck out -- the last memory she saw, which also had a strange connection to the other memories she had been recovering as of late.

_A creature with a black cloak seemingly appeared out of nowhere in the blue tunnel, clearly aiming to take a swipe at the green, leafy lizard-creature next to Maria. "You will not be reaching your destination! The world will become shrouded in darkness!"_

_"Darkrai!" Maria identified, glaring at the white, whispy head of the Pokemon. There was no way that she was going to let this creature stop them from saving the world from the nightmare it was to become._

_The_ _phoenix_ _staff in her hands glowed a bright, angry red as she moved in front of the Pokemon next to her, timing it just right so that the strange, monstrous Pokemon hit her with a wave of shadows instead of her ally. "Gah!"_

Maria's vision quickly cleared up, and when she saw that Luffy hadn't been hit yet, she decided to take a chance. Without thinking, she dashed in front of the black-haired pirate teen, jumping off some of the rubble on the floor in order to get to her chosen spot faster.

As a result, Lucci rammed his finger into Maria's chest rather than Luffy's neck.

The room seemed to still for a moment as Maria felt Lucci's index finger dig into the center of her chest, causing her to grit her teeth at the pain. _I refuse to give him the pleasure of my scream._

The force of the blow suddenly sent Maria flying backwards, hitting Luffy into the wall next of Zoro and the others as a result. The amnesiac collapsed onto the floor, feeling very dizzy. Her chest hurt _ridiculously_ \-- especially where Lucci's finger had slammed into her. It felt as though something was piercing her innards somewhere, but that shouldn't have been possible.

"Maria!" Chopper exclaimed, startled and afraid for the girl. However, to Maria, his voice sounded strangely...muted, somehow.

_I need to sleep...like, now._

Maria's vision started to blur, and she closed her eyes and her body went limp as she descended into the darkness of unconsciousness.

**Change in POV**

Robin stared in shock as the strange girl who had arrived with Luffy somehow managed to dash in front of Straw Hat mere moments before Lucci could hit him with an attack. Pain clearly flashed across her face, but the archeologist could see that the girl was doing her best to keep in any sort of exclamation of pain that might have come out as a result of the attack. And to get hit in the chest...!

"Maria!" Chopper exclaimed a second time. He quickly scrambled over the rubble that used to be the door in order to get to Luffy and the girl, who was now lying unconscious, her shirt clearly dented into her chest, but not torn.

If Lucci was disappointed at not covering his finger with the girl's blood, he didn't show it.

Chopper shrank down to his Brain Point and grabbed the girl's -- the doctor did call her _Maria_ , didn't he? -- right wrist. A frown came over his face as he tried to pull it up without bringing the staff with it, but the one hand that was still holding onto the phoenix staff had a grip of death on it. Like the item was so important, Maria wasn't about to let go, even when she was asleep.

And then there was a flash of light, and the staff disappeared abruptly, leaving most of the people present with wide eyes of surprise.

"What the hell?" Paulie managed, still somehow on his feet. Robin knew the holes in his arms and legs were Finger Pistol attacks, so the fact alone that he was standing was admirable.

 _I believe you summed up the situation quite well,_ Robin noted dryly.

Still, there was something off about the girl. Robin couldn't quite put her finger on it, but she could bet her Devil Fruit powers that this girl being with the Straw Hats was no mere coincidence. Besides, there was something about that staff that felt oddly familiar, somehow....

"I thought that girl was going to do something stupid," Lucci stated, annoyance now showing in his voice. "And look at her now. She didn't even manage to regain all her memories before passing on into the afterlife."

_Regain her memories...? This child lost them? Then, does that mean that Luffy decided he would try to help her regain them?_

"She's not dead." A relieved look came over Chopper's face, and he dropped Maria's wrist onto her stomach, where it lay limply. "I don't see any blood, so that means she probably has internal bleeding."

Lucci took a step towards them. "Perhaps I can remedy the situation and make it _external_ bleeding instead."

"Like hell you are." Luffy glared at Lucci with a look of pure hatred as he got to his feet.

Robin had seen that look before -- Luffy had had it on his face when he had been facing Crocodile. That felt like it had taken place _years_ ago, before she joined the crew and--

_No, no. Don't think about that. You're doing this for their sakes. You can't get attached now._

"You're not _her_ opponent; you're _mine_ ," Luffy growled darkly.


	11. Flash Fire!

**Dream Break**

_Maria shifted her four-legged stance, her six tails flaring out as the Vulpix glared at the large, purple cat in front of her. At least, it looked large to the Fire-Type -- everything did when one was this small._

_"What kind of Pokemon are you?" Maria demanded. Her gaze went over to the Electric Mouse standing nearby, but his gaze was locked with the purple-and-black Girafarig that was grinning wickedly down at him. "I definitely haven't seen any cat Pokemon like you before."_

_The purple cat Pokemon let out a purring noise as his tail twitched in annoyance. "I don't have to tell you." His voice was downright annoyed, but there was a smoothness underneath that._

_"Well, you definitely don't look like a native. If anything, I'd say you're friends with Team Skull."_

_The purple and black Girafarig snorted. "Those losers? They don't deserve to be mentioned."_

_"Shut up," the cat Pokemon growled._

_"But Liepard --"_

_"I said, shut up!" The cat Pokemon -- now named -- barked at the Girafarig in a burst of lost temper._

_Maria's eyes narrowed. "You two...get out."_

_"Why should we?" Liepard's voice was clearly strained as he turned and looked back down at the Vulpix. "You two don't even look like you could beat us. If you lead us to your Guildmasters, then we won't kill you...slowly."_

_Maria could feel her blood run cold while Girafarig cackled._

_"What do you want with the Guildmasters?" Pika asked, looking back and forth between the two purple-themed Pokemon with a suspicious look in his eyes. Maria could see that his black-tipped ears were twitching a lot more than they normally did, meaning that he was trying to learn something about the Pokemon in front of him by electric currents or something like that._

_The Vulpix never really knew what it was that the Pikachu was doing, but every time he used that ability of his, Pika could tell whether the Pokemon was okay or not._

_"Okay" meaning, not still affected by Darkrai's dark deeds._

_"We simply wanted to meet the so-called heroes," Girafarig cackled. "And challenge them to a fight."_

_Maria frowned. That laugh made her think of someone with the capabilities of making people laugh to death, but she wasn't able to think of anything that could give her a name to someone who would do something like that...other than some sort of joker._

_"I doubt you'd be able to beat them," Pika stated boldly._

_Maria hummed in agreement; they had fought Pokemon that were bigger, after all -- and on levels of power and rarity that placed them in the Legendary category._

_"You're not even worth their time," the Pikachu added._

_Leipard bristled -- he didn't seem to be one to hold onto his temper too well --- and he dashed forward, mouth opening as he aimed for the Pikachu._

_The Electric-Type was ready, however, as sparks were already flying from his red cheeks. "Thunderbolt!"_

_Electricity coursed from Pika's body and into the cat Pokemon, causing him to fly back as a result of the blast. A loud curse that Maria didn't want to repeat came out of the Pokemon's mouth._

_Girafarig shook his head at the other Pokemon's antics. "You need to be in better control of your emotions in the middle of a fight."_

_"Speak for yourself," Liepard snarled back as he got to his feet. "You've got more personality problems than I have spots."_

_The Girafarig's eyes narrowed. "If we weren't on the same team, I would have killed you by now."_

_"Shut up. Let's get rid of these pests before we go and find the Guildmasters and find out how they managed to find so many Legendaries while we haven't come into contact with any of them."_

_Maria's eyes narrowed even further. "Bad guys?"_

_"Bad guys," Pika confirmed. "I've got the cat."_

_"And I'll take the giraffe."_

_The Pikachu and the Vulpix switched places, glaring up at their new opponents._

_The Girafarig sneered down at Maria, the head on the end of his tail turning around in order to look at their new opponent._

_"Let's see you handle this!" Maria took a step back before dashing forward, her vision shifting to a darker spectrum. "Faint Attack!"_

_"Iron Defense!"_

_Maria rammed into the giraffe Pokemon with enough force to send an Alakazam careening, but the Pokemon didn't even flinch._

_The Vulpix stepped back in confusion. "What? But that attack never misses!"_

_We've trained ourselves to strengthen our bodies. Now, we're living weapons!" Girafarig cackled loudly._

_"Living weapons?" Maria's eyes widened. "What kind of idiots are you guys?!"_

_The Girafarig's tail-head glared up at the front head of the Pokemon as the Vulpix's head continued to speak, ignoring Maria's exclamation._

_"We're going to find the oppressors that will turn the future into darkness and destroy them -- and that includes the so-called gods of --!"_

_The tail bit down on the Girafarig's back, causing him to stop and yelp._

_"Shut up." The Girafarig's face shifted as his voice became deeper, more emotionless. "You shouldn't be talking to scum like this."_

_Maria bristled._ Scum?!

_"Let's see you handle this!" Maria took a step back and took in a breath before releasing a blast of fire that took on a star-shaped form. "Fire Blast!"_

_"Iron Defense!"_

_The fire attack went towards the Girafarig, but then streamed off the Normal/Psychic-Type. Some of it even bounced back towards Maria, surrounding her in warmth._

_"Flash Fire!"_

**Dream Break**

Maria opened her eyes slowly, feeling way too comfortable to move because she was so warm...but then her chest spiked with pain, and her eyes widened significantly as the amnesiac woke up fully.

She was lying in Iceberg's bedroom, and _it was on fire._

Maria sat up quickly, putting a hand to her chest and wincing in pain. She looked around the room before finally settling on where she was sitting, causing the girl to yelp in alarm before blinking in confused worry.

She was sitting on the remains of the door -- which were _clearly_ on fire -- but she wasn't being burnt. At all.

"What?" Maria winced when she spoke out her question, and she instinctively gripped her shirt -- the exact place were Lucci had rammed his finger into her.

Once again, the last words that had been spoken in the memory rang out in her mind. _Flash Fire...._

"Flash Fire?" Maria spoke aloud questioningly.

That's when something unexpected happened.

Maria watched with something akin to wonder as the fire around her started to slip _into_ her body, without leaving anything behind except for a strange sense of warmth and the partially burnt wood below her. It wasn't like anything Maria had seen before...

 _No, that I can remember_ , Maria mentally corrected. She sat there for a moment, looking at the fire as it disappeared, then wondered, _Is this...is this an ability of mine? Is that why the fire isn't hurting me?_

That's when Maria noticed that the pain in her chest had lessened. No longer did it feel like Lucci still has his finger in her chest, but now it felt more like a dull throb.

_I wonder...can the fire heal me?_

Cautiously, Maria reached for another gathering of fire and murmured, "Flash Fire." She watched with wide, blue eyes as the tips of the flames instantly were attracted to her fingertips and disappeared into her. The amnesiac could feel a strange warmth moving from her hand down her arm and into her chest, where the dull throb lessened again into practically nothing.

A grin crossed the girl's face, and she quickly got to her feet and started to look around at the room at the other flames, planning on an energy boost of sorts...that is, until, she caught sight of who else was in the room.

"Paulie! Iceberg!" Maria yelped as soon as she caught sight of the two men tied back to back in the middle of the burning room.

Nearby, a small white mouse suddenly cried out, fear clearly in its small voice. Maria turned to look at the rodent, then froze when she saw that there was a sword with a familiar hilt lying on the ground.

"This...this is one of Zoro's swords!" Maria realized, moving over and picking up the weapon. It felt strange to hold it in her left hand, like it wasn't supposed to be there...

A pile of rubble shifted suddenly, making Maria turn her head and causing the mouse to stop squeaking. A large piece of the wall -- which was actually made of stone and not plaster, surprising the amnesiac -- shifted and fell over. The figure that had been behind the rock started to unsteadily get to their feet.

"Chopper?" Maria asked nervously upon seeing the antlers and the pink top hat on the reindeer's head.

"Maria!" Chopper looked surprised upon seeing that Maria was standing on her feet. "How can you be moving after what Lucci did?!"

"It's because of an ability I've just rediscovered! It lets me actually absorb fire. Watch." Maria reached out for the flames that were flickering around Chopper, then stated, "Flash Fire."

Instantly, the fire disappeared from the space in front of the reindeer, and Maria could feel the warmth moving through her body seconds before gaining an energy boost. "I healed myself that way when I woke up."

"That's awesome!" Chopper exclaimed, stars taking the place of his eyes for a moment. They quickly returned to normal, however. "No, now's not the time for me admiring your required skills. We have to get Iceberg and Paulie out of here!"

"And find the others," Maria agreed, holding up Zoro's sword.

"Yeah. Help me get them onto my back so that we can get out of here. The air is stifling...."

Maria nodded slightly. While the temperature itself wasn't affecting her at all -- in fact, it just felt comfortably warm -- the fact that the fire was eating up all the oxygen in the room and producing unbreathable smoke was starting to make the amnesiac feel like she needed to cough.

Putting down the sword, Maria ran over and grabbed Paulie -- _man, what do shipwrights eat? Rocks?_ \-- and shifted him onto Chopper's back before doing the same with Iceberg. Both men groaned, but they didn't seem to be fully conscious enough to tell what was going on. When they were both on Chopper's back, the blue-eyed amnesiac grabbed Zoro's sword again and reached out a hand for the white mouse to climb onto her orange jacket sleeve, which he immediately did.

"Come on!" Chopper started galloping forward the window and breaking through with his antlers before jumping out into the considerably cooler night air. Maria quickly ran after him, leaping without a second thought.

As soon as she got out into the cold night air, the wind started pulling at Maria. She instinctively reached up and grabbed her backwards red and orange baseball cap in order to keep it from flying off as she careened towards the ground.

The amnesiac didn't worry about losing her footing or injuring herself as she fell three stories and landed on the grass in a crouch, the shock traveling up Maria's form but not making her fall flat on her rear. It felt like she was running on adrenaline...maybe as an after-effect of absorbing the fire?

"Iceberg! Paulie!"

That's when Maria noticed that they were completely surrounded by shipwrights -- some of them holding onto hoses that were pointed at fires that were all over the building.

"Nami...."

Maria looked over at Chopper, then followed the reindeer's gaze. Her eyes widened seconds later when she saw the the orange-haired navigator of the Straw Hats lying unconscious on the ground.

"I...I have to treat her...." Chopper started stumbling forward, but then he collapsed onto the ground, Iceberg and Paulie falling off his back.

"Chopper!" Maria exclaimed, moving over to the unconscious reindeer. She dropped Zoro's sword -- glad to have her hand off it -- and started to try and get Chopper to his feet. "Hey, are you all right?"

The mouse that the amnesiac had picked up seemed to have the same idea, because he climbed off Maria and quickly moved over to the blue-haired man, squeaking out of concern for the man who he clearly thought was a friend.

"Hurry -- we need first aid!" one of the shipwrights suddenly called out. "They're burned all over!"

The shipwrights quickly ran past Maria and Chopper and started straight for the two unconscious men.

"Hey, what are we going to do about the reindeer and the girl?" another shipwright asked.

"Help them! They saved their lives!" the first responded.

"Yeah -- you're right!"

A hand clapped onto Maria's shoulder, and the teen looked up and locked eyes with one of the shipwrights that was running around.

"You're that amnesiac-kid who's always hanging around Paulie, right?" the man guessed.

"Uh...yeah, that's me." Maria gave him a concerned look. "Please, do what you can to help the others -- I don't need any--"

"Nonsense, kid. You were up in that room, too. Come on -- let me see if you have any burns."

"Well..." Maria gave a sigh and shrugged. "Okay, but I doubt that you're going to find anything."

"Hey, can someone give me a hand moving the reindeer?" a shipwright called out near Maria. He was standing by Chopper's head; the reindeer hadn't even moved since he had collapsed and Maria had tried to lift him up.

"Here, let me."

Another shipwright came over and grabbed Chopper around his middle, and the two moved him off to the side. Maria and the shipwright who had decided to look her over moved also, in order to stay close to the reindeer -- as well as Nami.

"All right...." The shipwright took hold of Maria's wrist and started to roll up her orange jacket sleeve, only to frown. "Hey, wait. You're clothes aren't burnt."

"Hmm?" Maria glanced down at her orange jacket, her red shirt, blue jeans, and white shoes. To her surprise, she found that the shipwright was right -- there was no sign that she's been sitting on a pile of burning wood about a minute ago.

"Well, that's kinda...unexpected," Maria commented.

"And from what I can seem it doesn't look like you've been burned anywhere, either," the shipwright added. He gave Maria a strange look. "You don't have any weird abilities, do you?"

"Well, I think that depends on your definition of weird...."

Before the shipwright could ask Maria what she meant, there came the sound of crumbling rock from the Galley-La building. Everyone looked over as shipwrights who had been holding hoses scattered...and the building collapsed.

"Dammit," cursed one of the shipwrights watching the destruction. "Isn't there anything that we can do?"

"I doubt there's anything I could do at this point," Maria murmured quietly to herself. Her gaze went over to the collapsed forms of Iceberg and Paulie. "At least they managed to get out of there."

Just then, it looked like one of the two was starting to shift a little. One of the shipwrights standing around seemed to take notice, as well, and he turned in order to look down. A smile appeared on his face seconds later.

"Hey, everyone! Mr. Iceberg's awake!"

Everyone turned to look in the direction of the blue-haired mayor, and relief spread through the crowd like a wildfire.

"All right! He's safe!"

"I knew he'd make it!"

Loud cheering soon followed, with one man exclaiming, "Go Galley-La!"

"The reindeer saved his life!"

"Are you sure? I thought it belonged to the Straw Hats."

Maria stiffened upon hearing the suspicious voice, then let out a low growl. "Chopper isn't an it! He's a he!" the amnesiac declared loudly. Not that anyone listened to her ranting.

The cheering stopped, and suspicious muttering started to fill the area.

"Hey, look! This woman's from the Straw Hats, too!"

Maria's eyes widened when she saw who everyone was looking at...and who happened to be attempting to getting to her feet. "Nami!"

"So, what now?" questioned one shipwright. "Do you think maybe we should tie her up and question her?"

"I don't know -- she's just a girl," responded another. "And she's hurt, too."

"I know, but --"

"If they lay a single finger on either Nami _or_ Chopper with evil intentions," Maria growled, looking down and clenching her fists tightly, "then I'm gonna --"

"Whoa! You shouldn't be moving yet, Mr. Iceberg!"

Maria looked up in surprise upon hearing the exclamation, then saw that Iceberg was standing on his feet in front of Nami, his shoulders rising and falling. Clearly, he was running low on energy, if very single breath caused that much movement in his upper body.

"Sorry, men, but I need a little space right now," Iceberg stated, glancing over at the shipwrights. "That is to say, I want to speak to this woman in private." Iceberg continued to move, and he looked over at Maria. "Maria, is it?"

Maria blinked in confusion for a second, then gave a nod.

"You are going to be in on this, as well."

"Uh...okay." Maria got to her feet, then moved over to Iceberg and Nami, helping the navigator to her feet and allowing her to lean against the amnesiac. The trio then moved over to a more secluded area under the trees.

"Hey, wait!"

Maria paused and looked back as a shipwright ran over, taking off his jacket as he did so.

"Here -- she's probably pretty cold in that top," the man said.

Nami slipped away from Maria for a moment, accepting the item of clothing and wrapping it around her. "Thanks."

The shipwright simply gave a nod, then turned and ran back to the others, while Maria and Nami made the rest of the trek over to Iceberg.

Upon arriving under the trees, Maria helped Nami get into a kneeling position on the grass before plopping down to the right of the orange-haired navigator.

"What's up?" Maria asked, cocking her head in curiosity. When she saw the serious look that was on Iceberg's face, a frown flickered across her own -- but this frown was made out of worry.

The white mouse -- who had managed to sneak into Iceberg's pocket -- let out a couple squeaks, looking content to be where he was and without a care in the world. The amnesiac wondered if the cute little rodent understood what was going on.

"Well, first off, I must apologize." Iceberg looked over at Nami. "I falsely accused your entire crew. I'll try to clear that up soon."

Maria looked over at Nami, but the Straw Hat's navigator was clearly concentrating on Iceberg's words.

"But for now, I want to talk about Nico Robin."

Nami leaned forward upon hearing this, and Maria found herself becoming interested. Iceberg knew something about Robin?

"What do you know?" Nami asked.

There was a pause for a moment; Iceberg seemed to be getting his thoughts together.

"When your crew arrived here in Water 7, did she start acting strangely?"

"Yeah...she did." Nami appeared -- and sounded -- concerned. "She went into town that day and never came back. By the next morning, she was...the prime suspect in you attempted murder. When Sanji and Chopper finally found her...she said that this was good-bye, and that she wouldn't be part of the crew anymore. Of course, none of that made any sense to us, so we broke into your mansion so that we could see Robin one more time so that we could find out the truth." Nami flinched a little and looked down at her knees. "What kind of wish did she have that made her give up all her friends?"

"Wait -- _what?"_ Maria looked over at Nami in surprise.

"I think I know the answer, actually."

Maria and Nami looked over at Iceburg with surprise.

"This probably started not long after you lost sight of her for the first time," the mayor of Water 7 continued. "The government had begun its operation the moment she arrived. In other words, there's a good reason why she did what she did. But before I go into the details, I want you to understand that Nico Robin and I have the means to revive an ancient weapon that is capable of destroying the entire world."

Maria felt her blood run cold. _A weapon that could destroy the world...? Why would such a thing even exist?_

"A weapon...?" Nami repeated, equally alarmed.

"That's right." Iceberg took in a breath, then launched into his explanation.

"I learned of Robin's intentions when she was holding me at gunpoint in my bedroom. The members of CP9 were coming there because they had found the fake blueprints that I had planted in my office. I previously thought that Robin was planning on destroying the world by searching for the Poneglyphs and discovering the locations of each of the hidden weapons, meaning that I was intent on doing everything in my power to stop her from destroying he world."

"Poneglyphs?" Maria repeated, confused. "What are those?"

"Ancient runes from a civilization long-since gone," Iceberg explained, taking the question in stride. "No one knows how to translate them...except for those from the island of Ohara, which was destroyed about 20 years ago. Your friend Nico Robin is said to come from there."

"Destroyed? But...why?" Maria's eyebrows knit together. "Why would anyone think that an entire island needs to be destroyed?"

"It's because they were learning to translate the Poneglyphs. The entire world was convinced that they were doing it simply to discover the weapons that could be used to destroy the world. However, Nico Robin told me differently. She said she wanted to discover the history of the century that was hidden from history. That kind of search...." Iceberg paused and closed his eyes. "That kind of search could cause more weapons to be unearthed and may cause the destruction of the world. I made sure to mention that, as well. To walk the path that the Demons of Ohara did...."

"But...Robin doesn't _look_ like a demon...." Maria frowned, thinking back to the black creature with glowing yellow eyes and bug-like antenna on top of its head. "And if she's friends with you guys, that doesn't make her bad either, right?" The amnesiac looked over at Nami with an expectant expression.

Nami looked concerned, as well, but looked like she was more lost in her own thoughts than actually listening to Maria's murmurings.

"Robin mentioned that the government has warped her life," Iceberg commented, bringing the amnesiac's and Nami's attention back to the mayor. "When I asked her why she was working with the government, she said that she had a wish that she would sacrifice anything for. When she arrived here with you, CP9 found her and told her to turn herself in and follow their every order without question, while also pinning my attempted assassination on you and leaving your crew."

"Why would she agree to that?" Nami asked, frowning.

"Apparently, there was something called a Buster Call involved." The expression on Iceberg's face was a grim one.

"Buster...." Something about the word was familiar to Maria, but she wasn't quite sure where she had heard it before.

"Ten Marine battleships and five Vice-Admirals are called to the same location...and attack it. Normally, the Admirals and the Fleet Admiral are allowed to do something like this, but Admiral Aokiji allowed CP9 to have this power."

Nami stiffened when Iceberg mentioned the name of the Admiral, but Maria simply blinked in confusion before frowning.

"Why? Why would he let a group of blood-thirsty, _twisted_ people have the power to make a call like that?" Maria demanded, throwing her right arm out in a gesture of anger.

"I don't know. But for whatever reason, the thought of a Buster Call was what drove Nico Robin to surrender to them. She admitted to me that, in the past, she was able to run and use others as a shield in order to hide from the government. But not in this instance, because she sees the Straw Hat crew as her friends. It seems that she is willing to sacrifice the world for you -- all of you."

Maria was absolutely dumbfounded. "Wow...." She looked over at Nami, who was shocked, as well. "To think that she would put her life on the line for her friends...you're lucky to know someone like that. To have _bonded_ with someone like that."

Iceberg nodded. "At first, I thought she was lying, and grabbed the pistol she had forcibly removed from my grip. In the end, I couldn't pull the trigger." The blue-haired mayor paused.

"She was willing to sacrifice the lives of everyone in this world -- even her own -- just so that she could save the six of you." Iceberg put a hand on his head. "As much as I hate to admit it, I have no right to criticize her. If they find the blueprints, it's all my fault."

It was at this point that Nami suddenly fell forward onto the grass.

"Hey! Are you all right?" Iceberg asked, moving forward from his position.

"N-Nami?" Maria asked, worried. _Did she push herself too far?_

Nami let out a weak laugh. "I'm happy, that's all. I was so worried...I didn't want to believe she'd betrayed us...."

Iceberg looked a little confused, while Maria let out a sigh of relief herself. To have had the opposite come true would have been like a pile of bricks coming down on anybody...but to hear that Robin was still a friend...it felt like a great weight had been lifted up.

"I've got to find everyone else and let them know!" Nami quickly scrambled to her feet and ran off, adding, "Thank you, Iceberg!"

"Wait!" Iceberg called after the orange-haired navigator. "What are you going to do now? The Straw Hats have already lost to CP9!"

Maria let out a worried hum when she heard that exclamation. It must have happened after Lucci had slammed his finger into her...how were the Straw Hats going to get Robin back if they couldn't defeat the agents from the government first?

Nami stopped running and turned around. "What do you mean, we lost?" The navigator raised a fist. "We haven't even started fighting yet! We wouldn't be here right now if we gave up that easy!" A grin came over her face. "Luffy will get Robin back, you'll see. We just needed motivation, that's all."

Iceberg looked absolutely dumbfounded at this exclamation.

Maria blinked a couple times before shaking her head. _These guys are crazy!_ A grin came over her face. _I like that! You'd have to be crazy in order to be able to do the things that they can do!_

"Now that we know that Robin needs saving, there's no limit to what we can do!" Nami declared. Her grin turned into a determined smirk, and then she turned and ran off. "Chopper! Great news!"

Maria grinned as she watched the navigator run off. "This has got to be the best thing they've heard these past two days!"

"It seems that you're affected by this, as well," Iceberg noted, causing Maria to return her attention to the blue-haired, bandaged man.

"Well, I may have only known them for two days, but I already feel so close to them." Maria hummed with delight at the thought as a smile crossed her face.

"Yes, well...I suggest you be careful."

Maria's smile faded slightly, and she frowned. "What do you mean?"

"That staff you carried with you into my bedroom...."

Maria blinked for a moment, confused until she remembered the red, phoenix-headed staff that had appeared in her hands. "Y-yeah? What about it?"

"Carrying a weapon like that can have deadly consequences for the user if they're found out, according to what I've heard. Merely rumors, you must understand."

"Rumors?" Now Maria was even more confused.

"Yes. You see, people usually do not have powers without eating a Devil Fruit first. I understand that you haven't eaten one, but...try to keep that part of your abilities a secret for as long as possible."

"Why?"

"I believe there may be people looking for those with abilities like yours...." Iceberg's expression darkened. "...and they are _not_ as reliably friendly as the Straw Hats are."

Maria became a little worried at that, and she gave a nervous nod. "O-okay, then. I'll...I'll keep that in mind." She looked back over at Nami and gained a nervous expression when she saw that the navigator was slapping Chopper's face in an attempt to wake up the reindeer. "What do you think I should do, sir? I want to be able to help the Straw Hats, but...I'm not technically a part of their crew, so I shouldn't get involved...."

"It's your choice whether you get involved or not," Iceberg replied. "I'm not about to stop you."

Maria's eyebrows knit together. "Well...I'm not sure. I mean, I feel like I should help them, but...." The amnesiac looked down at her open palms for a moment, wondering what exactly she should do. Help the Straw Hats? Or stay at Galley-La?

As if her body was answering for her, there was a flash of light in Maria's hands, and the phoenix-headed staff reappeared in her grip.

Maria blinked for a moment before a determined look came over her face, shadowing her blue eyes and making it look like her eyes were a darker shade...almost a deep ocean blue.

"Yeah," Maria murmured, nodding to herself. "If I'm going to travel around with these guys in order to get my memories back...I may as well help them get their crew member back in order to repay them for their kindness."


	12. Race Against Time

"So...you mean Robin doesn't hate us after all?"

Maria, who was crouching not too far away from the pirates, smiled happily at Chopper, who had gone into what the amnesiac was starting to call his "cute form." The reindeer was now bandaged up -- and certainly delighted by the news Nami had just given him. She adjusted her grip on her staff, which was standing upright with the phoenix figurehead high above the amnesiac's own head.

"Uh huh," Nami responded, smiling at Chopper. Obviously, the navigator was still running on high energy as a result of what Iceberg had told her.

"I'm so happy!"

Maria chuckled, and her smile grew wider as she watched tears of relief slide down the reindeer's face.

Meanwhile, the shipwrights who had helped finish off the fires that were burning up the Galley-La building were standing around with shocked looks and dropped jaws.

"Huh? He's a raccoon dog?" one asked.

"I thought he was a reindeer," a second commented.

"Did he just transform or what?" a third questioned.

Maria sent an annoyed glance in the direction of the men. _Seriously, haven't they seen a Devil Fruit like Chopper's before? Or are Devil Fruits really that uncommon?_

"Anyway, Chopper," Nami continued, ignoring the shocked looks around them, "we have to find the rest of the crew so that we can go rescue Robin!"

"Okay! Let's go!" The happy look on Chopper's face quickly faded, however, as the reindeer started to look around. "Uh...but...where are they?"

A frown came over Maria's own face as she looked back at Nami and Chopper, and the amnesiac looked around the area herself. "Yeah, that's gonna be a problem...I didn't see either Luffy or Zoro when I woke up in that burning room."

"I don't know where they are," Nami admitted, "but that's why we have to find them!"

Chopper crossed his arms over his chest and abruptly grew into his muscular form. "Yeah! Let's do this!"

All the shipwrights responded with yells of surprise upon seeing such a little animal grow to be so large, making Maria have to hold back her laughter with her left hand over her mouth upon seeing their reactions. All the same, a few giggles managed to slip between her fingers.

"Now he's a gorilla!" somebody yelled.

And Maria just _lost_ _it,_ falling backwards and holding her stomach as she laughed. Her staff disappeared in a flash of light, but that caused Maria to quickly stop laughing and hold up her right hand, causing it to reappear...and getting more exclamations of surprise from those around her.

"I think I'm starting to get the hang of this," Maria commented, one hand on her red and orange baseball cap -- which was _still_ positioned backwards on her head.

"How do you _do_ that, anyway?" Nami demanded as Maria got into a crouching position. All the orange-haired navigator got in response was a helpless shrug.

"Wait, you three."

Maria and Nami turned to look behind them, only to see Iceberg walking towards them.

"I don't care if you go after Nico Robin," Iceberg stated, "but before you go, you should know that the Sea Train for government personnel is departing at eleven o' clock tonight."

Maria blinked in confusion. _Sea Train? Is that some sort of...water transport or something?_

"This is just my guess, but there's a good chance that you'll find CP9 there," Iceberg added. "And that means...Nico Robin will be there, as well."

Maria stiffened a little. _CP9...._ She felt like her stomach was tying itself in knots, and a quick phantom pain came and went in her chest. _We have to run into them again?_

"Because of Aqua Laguna, they're stopping all service after this final departure," the blue-haired mayor continued. "In other words, you won't be able to chase after them on another train."

"Wait..." Nami got up to her feet and faced Iceberg fully. "You mean we have to --"

Iceberg gave a grim nod. "Since you obviously can't sail in this weather, you won't be able to leave the island unless you go after that train _right now_."

"Right now?" Maria repeated, eyes widening.

"Huh?!" Nami looked like she couldn't believe her ears. "No way! What time is it?"

Iceberg pulled out a pocket watch -- seemingly from out of nowhere -- and easily flipped it open with one hand. "Almost ten thirty."

"WHAT?!"

"So we have about half an hour before the train leaves," Maria commented, frowning as she tried to think of what exactly they would have to do in that time. "And we've got to find Luffy and Zoro before we should confront the agents...because it seems to me that no one else would really be able to take them out...." The amnesiac took off her baseball cap and scratched her head. "This isn't going to be that easy to do in that amount of time. Water 7's pretty big, isn't it?" She put her hat back on -- the bill facing forward this time.

"Hey -- you're the mayor right?" Nami asked, retaining her panicked expression as she looked up at Iceberg. "Can't you do something to stop the train?"

Iceberg looked at Nami for a moment, then snapped the pocket watch shut and put it out of sight. "Well...unfortunately, it's bound for Enies Lobby, which is only accessible to government personnel. Even the engine driver works for the government. So I have no say in this matter."

"Well, isn't _that_ just great," Maria muttered, a sour look coming over her face while Nami let out a groan. "These guys are really hush-hush, aren't they? Or are they worried about somebody getting assassinated?"

"So...I guess our only choice is to head to the station and try to talk some sense into Robin." Nami still sounded nervous and panicked, but also accepting of the actions they would have to take in order to rescue her crew member. "Chopper! Maria!"

"Huh?" The little reindeer looked up at the orange-haired navigator, as did the amnesiac.

"What is it?" Maria asked, cocking her head in curiosity.

"I'll tell you guys which direction Luffy and Zoro flew off in so that you guys can go search for them, okay? If you find them, tell them to come to the station as quickly as they can, okay?"

"Okay." Chopper gave a determined nod.

"You can count on us," Maria promised.

"Hey -- listen up."

Maria and the two Straw Hat pirates turned their heads upon hearing a familiar voice, and a bright, relieved smile came across Maria's face when she saw the black number 1 on the back of a familiar blue jacket. Paulie was sitting up, he was awake, and _he was alive._

It was pretty apparent that the shipwrights were relieved, as well.

"Hey, look everyone!" exclaimed one. "Paulie's okay!"

"See that girl over there?" Paulie jabbed a thumb in the direction of Maria, Chopper, and Nami. "I want you to help her find her buddies."

Maria's eyes widened. "Paulie...?"

That statement didn't make the shipwrights as happy as they had been a few seconds ago.

"Are you sure that smoke didn't get into your brain, Paulie?" asked a shipwright with a fedora. "These are the guys that tried to kill Mr. Iceberg! We should ring their no-good sorry necks!"

Maria's eyes narrowed, and she got up to her feet and moved to stand in a defensive stance in front of Chopper and Nami, looking around at the shipwrights who were muttering suspiciously around them.

"Besides, why should we waste our time helping some criminals when Lucci and Kaku are still missing?" added a shipwright with a blue bandanna tied on his head.

"The Straw Hats aren't the ones who did it, okay?!" Paulie barked sharply. "The real criminals set them up!"

 _And they just so happen to be the foremen that you still want to look for,_ Maria mentally growled while she gritted her teeth.

"If we hadn't been so damn blind, we wouldn't be in this situation right now," Paulie growled. "Now, I don't know the real identify of those guys in the masks--"

_Wait, what? He's lying?_

_"--_ but I do know that the Straw Hats tried to protect us from 'em. As a matter of fact, Iceberg and I wouldn't even be alive right now...if it wasn't for their help."

The shipwrights were absolutely dumbfounded upon hearing Paulie's statement. Maria, however, had a large grin on her face as she listened to her friend's speech.

 _It's about time we got some sense knocked into them,_ Maria mentally noted.

"Don't bother looking for Lucci and Kaku," Paulie added as he started to get to his feet. "There's no point. In fact, I don't know if we'll be seein' them ever again."

"What?" a man with a big mouth and a red and white striped shirt called out. "If you know what happened to the foremen, then you gotta tell us, Paulie!"

Paulie didn't even look at the shipwright, instead turning around before speaking and locking eyes with Iceberg. "They went back home," he ground out.

Maria frowned in confusion. _Why...why isn't he telling them the truth?_

"What? Why would they do that a time like this?" the shipwright persisted.

"Just shut up and go find Straw Hat!" Paulie barked back. He glanced over at Nami, and Maria noticed with a feeling of annoyance that the foreman had already stuck a cigar in his mouth so soon after getting out of a room filled with fire and smoke. "Hey. Immoral girl."

Maria snorted while Nami's confused expression shifted into an angry glare. "What? You're _still_ calling me that?"

Paulie raised a hand, as if staving off any verbal abuse the navigator could dish out. "If you're going to the station, I'll show you the way."

Nami gained a surprised expression upon hearing Paulie's statement. "Uh...thanks, I guess."

Maria grinned, glad that Paulie was going to be doing something to help them besides ordering the other shipwrights to give them a hand.

"Hey, hold on a sec, Paulie!" one of the shipwrights called out.

"Is all that stuff you told us really true?" asked another.

Paulie turned to glare at the shipwrights, and Maria saw that the blond foreman had lit the end of his cigar while he had been standing with his back to the crowd. She rolled her eyes. _Men and their smoking habits. Sheesh._

"Quit yer yappin' and help them out already!" Paulie roared. "You're makin' Galley-La look bad!"

Upon hearing Paulie's bad-tempered yell, a number of the shipwrights present quickly moved into an army-like attention position with their arms up in a salute. "Yes, sir! Sorry, sir!"

"We'll do our best!" someone else added.

"Sorry boss!" a group continued.

"Yeah!" A shipwright came bounding out of the crowd and stopped near Maria, Chopper, and Nami. "We'll help any way we can!"

"All right! Open the cage! Bring out the yagaras!"

"YEAH!"

Maria's grin widened, and she looked over at Nami and Chopper, who looked absolutely dumbfounded. "That's Paulie for ya! He's awesome!"

Chopper blinked for a moment, then grinned himself while a look of delight also came across Nami's face. "Yeah! He really is!"

Maria chuckled. "Come on -- let's get on those yagara and find Luffy and Zoro!"

**Time Break**

"HEY! GUYS!"

A single, young, boyish voice seemed to go screaming throughout the entire city -- all the way up to the fountain at the top of the city.

"HELLO! HEY, GUYS, CAN YOU HEAR ME?!"

If one were to zoom in on a particular section of the canals, they would find a large herd of yagaras -- each one with two people riding the boats on their backs. In the very front yagara was a large man with a small animal riding on its back. Beside them, on a red yagara by herself, with a strange sword in the seat behind her, was Maria.

"LUFFY! ZORO! SANJI!" Chopper put up a hand to his mouth and muttered in a whispered yell, "Usopp, you can come to if you want, okay?"

Maria rubbed the palm of her right hand into her right ear. "Sheesh, for a little guy, you can get to be _really_ loud sometimes," she commented. "Course, we're gonna have to be loud if we're going to find them."

Chopper nodded in agreement, then turned to look at the shipwrights behind them. "All right, guys, you got that? Then shout it with me!"

Almost instantly, the entire crowd of shipwrights stated shouting at the tops of their voices, causing Maria to jump a little in surprise.

"Okay, if they can't hear _that,_ they may as well be deaf," Maria remarked with a deadpan expression. The amnesiac turned around and raised her own voice so that she could be heard over the yelling shipwrights. "Hey, guys! If we split up, we might be able to find them faster! Get going!"

"RIGHT!"

Maria flinched a little at the responding call from over fifty strong, loud men. Seconds later, they reached a crossroads in the canals, and the entire group started to split.

"Maria! Stick with me!" Chopper called out, getting the amnesiac's attention. "You've still got Zoro's sword, right?"

"Yeah." Maria glanced at the seat behind her, where the sword was propped up against the wood.

"It might be a good idea if you stayed close and were with me when we got Zoro his sword back, since you're not a part of the crew."

"That sounds good to me!"

Maria and Chopper went down into a residential district with the number of shipwrights who were staying close to them.

"LUFFY!" Chopper called out. "THEY'RE GOING TO TAKE ROBIN AWAY! WE NEED YOUR HELP! WHERE ARE YOU?!"

"Zoro, where are you?!" Maria called out, cupping her hands around her mouth in order to get more volume. "You can't go around with just two swords, right?!"

This yelling went on for quite some time, and Maria could feel it starting to take her toll on her throat. She paused in her yelling to massage her neck, an expression of discomfort coming over her face.

"I don't get it...." Chopper took a moment to go back down to his normal volume, panting heavily from exertion. "Where are they?"

"Probably...." Maria let out a cough. "...Probably not here." She looked up from the head of the red yagara she was on and over at Chopper. "Is there anywhere else in this city that we haven't been?"

Chopper opened his mouth -- as though he was about to respond -- but then Maria was hit with a _massive_ headache that blocked out her senses. Her vision blacked out, quickly replaced by visions of a black-haired woman with blue eyes -- Robin -- going through different events with Luffy and the others.

_"I don't have anywhere to go or return to, so I've decided to stay here with you."_

Maria shook her head as her vision cleared, and her hearing slowly returned.

"...Maria!" Chopper called out. "Are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine." Maria rubbed her head while glaring up at the dark sky -- the amnesiac had been aiming for her brain. "I just had another vision, that's all."

"Of what?"

"I...I think they're some of Robin's memories." Maria shook her head again. "I don't know why I'm getting them _now_ , though. It's way too weird."

Chopper frowned, worried. "Do you think it means anything?"

"...I don't know," Maria admitted, a worried expression crossing her face. However, a determined one quickly replaced it. "I can't worry about that now, though. We've got you rubbery captain and the green-haired swordsman to find, remember?"

Chopper's concerned look morphed into a determined one, as well, and the little reindeer gave a nod. "Right!"

The amnesiac and the reindeer faced opposite directions then and started yelling loudly at the tops of their lungs, "LUFFY! ZORO! WHERE ARE YOU?!"


	13. Aqua Laguna

"Really? So after that, Sanji went to the train station?" Chopper looked and sounded excited.

"Yup!" Nami gave a nod, an excited look in her own eyes.

"Well, this is certainly good news." Maria gave an eager smile of her own. "If that cook was able to hold himself up against Zoro so well this morning in the hotel room, then he should be able to survive on the train without any trouble."

The trio was standing on the sidewalk, the yagaras floating in the canal near them. Chopper had switched to his full reindeer mode -- which Maria remembered him calling his "Walk Point" -- in order to be able to traverse the lay of the city's sidewalks faster. Maria herself had been forced to grab Zoro's sword again and follow after the reindeer, and the amnesiac was eagerly looking forward to handing it back over to the swordsman as soon as she got the chance.

Nami, who had met up with them some time ago, explained about what had happened when she had arrived at the train station and about what she had found out about Sanji's whereabouts. She even showed them the part of the note he had left behind explaining about where he was.

"And Usopp and Franky are there, too...." Maria frowned slightly upon remembering the other news that Nami had given them concerning what Sanji had seen before getting on the train. "Why would they both be there, though? From what I remember of you guys telling me, wouldn't Usopp have been left alone after everything that has happened, since he...well, you know. And _Franky_...what does the government want with him?"

"At any rate," Nami continued, ignoring Maria's mumbling, "no matter how we're going to follow them, we can't do anything until we find Luffy and Zoro first, understand?"

"Right," Maria and Chopper said together, nodding.

"I'm a hundred percent certain on which direction they flew, so head over here and start searching, got it?" Nami turned and looked at the shipwrights standing near them. "And you guys help, too!"

Chopper trotted forward a few steps, then called out, "All right, guys! Let's do this!" The reindeer raised a hoof. "Are you with me?"

"YEAH!" came the unanimous response from the shipwrights around them.

"We won't let you down!" another shipwright added.

With that, everyone scrambled into their yagaras and took off down the canal, Nami in the lead and Chopper riding in the seat behind her.

Maria cautiously placed the sword in the seat behind her, then removed her right hand from the hilt and shook it vigorously. "I can't help but wonder if there's something dark about that thing."

"What do you mean?" Nami asked from nearby. Behind and around them, the shipwrights -- and Chopper -- continued to yell at the top of their lungs for Zoro and Luffy. "It's just a sword, isn't it?"

"Mmmm...." Maria shook her head. "I don't think so. There's a lot of stuff that I don't quite remember yet, but I'm getting the feeling that I've run into items like this before -- items that have different kinds of power...power that only shows up in the hands of the right user. And I'm definitely the wrong one for that sword!"

At the back of Maria's mind, seven gems cut like diamonds but colored like the rainbow appeared and vanished in a bright flash.

"Sheesh, what kind of past do you have?" Nami asked, annoyed.

"I don't know...but something tells me I'll find out sooner or later." Maria held out her right hand, causing her phoenix staff to reappear. "And this feels like the first piece of the puzzle. All I've got to do is find the rest of them." She let go of the staff, and it disappeared before it had even fully left her grip.

"Hey, you three!" Paulie came up behind Nami, Chopper, and Maria. "You should probably take to the streets if you want to find those two faster. I'll handle the canals."

"Are you sure?" Maria asked, frowning at the shipwright. He looked like he was starting to lose strength...those wounds were probably starting to get to him....

"Hell yeah," Paulie replied in a low growl. "Now get going! I'll handle this area!"

"Okay." Nami gave a nod, then steered her yagara over to the side and jumped off. Chopper and Maria quickly followed suit, the amnesiac snatching Zoro's sword again from the back seat of the yagara she had been riding.

"Sorry about this," Maria muttered under her breath. To others, it looked like she was talking to herself, but in reality, she was speaking to the sword. "I'm going to have to hold onto you for a little bit longer before I can get you back to Zoro, okay? It shouldn't be much longer."

The amnesiac didn't expect the blade to respond, and it didn't.

**Time Break**

Maria was starting to wonder if there was someone carrying a torch around, because honestly, she could have gone for a pick-me-up right at that second. Her voice hadn't changed or lessened in volume, but her throat was starting to feel sore and her energy was starting to run low from all that running.

Chopper, Nami, and the shipwrights seemed to be starting to think the same thing, because their paces were starting to slow down a little -- not as much as Maria felt like she wanted them to, though.

And then she felt something hit the top of her head. Then teen looked up at the sky, which was dark with clouds, and wondered if the Aqua Laguna storm was starting.

"Rain...."

Maria looked over at the reindeer that had been trotting next to her. Chopper, too, was looking up at the sky.

"This is bad," Chopper commented, worried. "The strong winds are already interfering with my sense of smell." He looked back at the street ahead of him and started running along the sidewalk.

"H-hey, Chopper! Wait for me!" Maria yelped. She promptly ran off after him, fumbling with the sword in her left hand so that she could grab hold of the zipper of her jacket and zip it up. Water coming from the sky meant that it was going to get cold -- especially with the winds that were already blowing in and causing the amnesiac's hair to get whipped all over the place.

She wondered if she should ask Nami later if the navigator had a hair tie that would let Maria pull her hair back, but then the amnesiac put it out of her mind. After all, shoulder-length hair was going to be difficult to get into a ponytail.

"Luffy! Zoro!" Maria called out, remembering why they were out in the cold, windy night in the first place. "Where are you?!"

"Answer us!" Chopper wailed.

The reindeer and the amnesiac continued to wander from street to street, leading a group of shipwrights as they searched for Zoro and Luffy. Neither one of them were able to hear so much as a footstep or a distant response from the swordsman or the pirate captain. Eventually, they ended up wandering out of the street and onto a grassy lawn of some sort. Nearby, there was a large crowd of shipwrights standing at the edge of some sort of stone railing, leaning over it and yelling something that was quickly ripped away by the wind before Maria could hear what they were saying.

"Don't go after her!"

The amnesiac's head turned sharply when she heard Paulie cry out, and she caught sight of the blond shipwright standing at a break in the stone railing. The heads of a few other men could be seen below him.

"But Paulie --"

"You following after her won't do any good. If things get bad, I'll handle it myself."

"What's going on?" Maria asked, running over to Paulie.

The shipwright glanced down at Maria; the blue-eyed amnesiac could tell that his cigar was soaked through, making it completely useless to the shipwright if he had been planning on smoking at all in the rainy weather.

"The immoral girl just went down into the backstreets," Paulie explained, jabbing a thumb in the direction of the break in the railing. "I figure she's probably going after Straw Hat."

"Luffy's down _there_?" Maria yelped, looking past the shipwrights and down into the buildings below. Her gaze moved even further, and the amnesiac paled. "Uh, Paulie? Where'd all the water go?"

"Dragged out. Sure as hell there's going to be a large wave coming in any moment now."

Maria spluttered, taking a step back out of surprise. "When they said that Aqua Laguna was a storm, they never mentioned that it was a _tsunami!_ Nami better hurry up and get Luffy out of wherever he is, or else they're both gonna be dead!"

It was right at this point that Chopper came over and suddenly slipped Zoro's sword out of Maria's grip before running off down the stairs and into the backstreets.

"What the hell?" Paulie demanded, watching the reindeer run off.

"Chopper!" Maria called out in alarm, turning in order to see where the reindeer was going.

"No way!" a shipwright exclaimed. "Not the reindeer, too!"

"Zoro!" Chopper somehow managed to yell around the sword in his teeth.

Maria stiffened up a little upon hearing the reindeer's yell. "Zoro? He's somewhere around here, too? How in the world did they manage to get thrown this far away from the Galley-La building?"

"Rob Lucci," Paulie growled through his teeth.

"What? He's that strong?"

Paulie muttered a string of curses under his breath that _clearly_ said he didn't want to talk about what had happened in Iceberg's bedroom after Maria had fallen unconscious.

"Don't be a fool, girl!"

Maria's attention moved from Paulie and his cursing to a short, older woman with frizzy yellow hair standing on the stone railing and looking out over the back streets of Water 7.

"You won't make it back in time! You can see for yourself -- the wave's gonna hit any second, now!"

Maria blinked for a moment, then turned herself and looked out over the area. Her blue eyes narrowed as she tried to look out at the horizon, scanning the open ocean bed as she looked out in that direction. The amnesiac frowned when she saw the small wall of water coming up on the horizon.

"That looks...smaller than I expected," Maria commented, looking back at the blond man next to her.

"It's gonna get a hell of a lot bigger, believe me," Paulie replied. The shipwright looked tense.

Maria hummed in concern and worry, then looked out again over at the horizon while the shipwrights yelled about Nami and the others being dead.

Seeing that wave coming....

Maria's vision faded out, and it was quickly replaced by a vision of a similar situation, but in a different place and time....

**Memory Break**

_"Kyogre and Groudon are going on a rampage! At this rate, the entire region -- no, the entire world will get torn apart!" A man scrambled up some stone stairs and into a building. The door slammed shut behind him._

_Maria looked over at the figure standing to her right -- or rather, below her and right next to her right foot._

_"This sounds pretty familiar, doesn't it?" Maria asked dryly, motioning out to the chaos in front of them: a thunderstorm was going off above their heads, but it was cleared away quickly, revealing a bright, harsh sun for a few seconds before the thunderstorm took over again. The rain continued to fall whether the sun was there or not._

_The figure next to her -- a small, yellow mouse with a thunderbolt-shaped tail -- gave a grim nod. "Yeah. But we never had it this bad. And I thought that Athair wasn't going to be controlled by that thing."_

_"That's what I thought, too." Maria shrugged helplessly. "I guess he was lying to us." She glared up at the nasty weather. "At least Sootopolis is somewhat shielded. Have you tried contacting Rayquaza yet?"_

_"I have, but he isn't responding."_

_Maria let out an annoyed growl. "Great. Looks like we're going to have to find him." The teen turned and looked over at a man standing nearby -- a man with silver hair and a large, blue steel-covered creature behind him with a silver X right across the front of the monster's face. "Steven! Is there anywhere in Hoenn that's known for have Rayquaza stop by? I've been hearing something about him being seen all over the region!"_

_The silver-haired man looked somewhat startled at the question. "Rayquaza? How do you know the name of that Pokemon?"_

_"It's the same reason that I can speak English, former Champion," Pika stated with a respectful bow. "Please. Rayquaza may be the only one who could stop these two before things get out of hand."_

_Steven looked somewhat uncertain, but then he gave a slight nod. "Very well. In the past, Rayquaza have been known to rest in Sky Pillar, which is to the southwest of here. I'll have Wallace go ahead of you and unlock the ground floor door so that you can enter."_

_Maria gave a nod. "Thanks."_

_There suddenly came two primeval cries from below them -- cries filled with anger and bloodlust. Maria stepped over to the edge of the cliff she was standing on and looked down, only to stumble back when a large wave of water suddenly came flying up -- seemingly from out of nowhere._

_"Tch." Maria did her best to wipe the water off her face, but her entire body was already soaked through as a result of the heavy rain that was coming down. "I know I like using Water-Types on my teams, but in a situation like this, even though I'm human now, it feels like I'm slowly growing weaker by the minute." The teen looked up at the contorting sky, moving between clouds and sun. "And it feels like my senses are going bonkers, too."_

_"Yeah...I'm having a hard time telling directions apart," Pika agreed from Maria's feet. "We'd better hurry."_

_"I couldn't agree more." Maria grabbed a red and white sphere from the belt she wore around her waist and tossed it out, exclaiming, "Swift, take us to Pacifidlog! We need to work from there if we're going to find Sky Pillar's entrance!"_

**Memory Break**

_Maria struggled to stay above the surface, coughing whenever a wave entered her mouth. Rain pelted her head as she rolled around from wave to wave, still somehow managing to stay in the same spot._

_There came a loud laugh from above her, and Maria looked up sharply. There was a figure standing in the middle of the air...or, at least, from what Maria could tell. There was a bright blue light behind the figure, so the teen couldn't tell who was there._

_"Zihihihihihihi!" the figure laughed. "Let's see you try to find your friend now!"_

**Memory Break -- Maria's POV**

"AQUA LAGUNA IS HERE!!!"

I was jolted from the memory when I heard one of the shipwrights yell out in despair, and it took me a moment for my vision to come fully into focus. When it did, I wasn't exactly sure that I liked what I saw.

The waves that had been so teeny tiny in the distance? Yeah. They kinda got...big. Really big.

My heartbeat must have been going a mile a minute right at that point, because there was a huge wave coming, I'd just had a memory brought back to me involving a similar situation brought on by two monsters _fighting,_ and I did not want to get swallowed whole by that thing.

And I didn't want my new friends to get swallowed up, either. I didn't know them well enough to call them friends, but...I had already managed to get attached to them. That's why I was helping them rather than fleeing for the docks in order to take shelter.

But those waves were kind of making me rethink my decision.

"That's one really big tsunami!" I gulped. "They'd better get out of there or else they're --"

I cut myself off when I heard something big getting shifted. You'd do that too, if you saw two buildings suddenly get _pushed_ _apart_ with Luffy directly between them and yelling at the top of his lungs.

I didn't think that someone made of rubber would be able to do something like that, much less anyone about my age at all. That much power compacted into a single person...it was absolutely ridiculous!

Moments later, there came a similar act of power when I heard some sort of explosion off in the direction that Chopper had gone. I turned my head and...there was Zoro. It looked like he had destroyed something that was attached to the top of a building...wait. _Was he stuck in a chimney?!_

How in the world do people get themselves into situations like that?

And then the wave hit the backstreets, tearing up buildings and not even stopping.

"The power of nature is a dangerous thing to mess with!" I muttered, my voice shaking a little from my fear of that wave.

"Hey, look! They made it!"

My attention moved from the wave's destruction to the shipwrights, who were looking down. I looked down, as well, and caught sight of four figures collapsing onto the flat section of the stairs while the wave started to roll around it.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Thank goodness."

"They should be safe on the bridge," commented a shipwright near where I was standing. "It's a big wave, but it's not that big."

"Are you saying that there have been bigger ones before?" I asked, wide-eyed at the thought. _How often does this thing happen to these people?_

"Uh..." The man was a bit thrown off by my question. "No, there haven't been."

"Then why did you say that?"

"Oh, no! This is bad!"

I turned my head upon hearing yet _another_ shipwright's voice, and then I followed his gaze to where Luffy and the others were. The sight that I saw there really made my knees knock together.

"Well, now you can say that you've seen a bigger wave!" I yelped, staring at the wave that was now coming towards us. I quickly returned my attention to the four pirates still below us. "Guys! You've gotta get out of there!"

As I was yelling, a someone wearing blue suddenly dashed past me. Before I could turn my head to see who it was, though, the wave suddenly crashed down on the bridge and completely covered it.

The shipwrights completely went to pieces.

"Did Straw Hat make it?" one of the men behind me asked.

"I don't know! All I can see is water!" another replied.

"They'll make it," I muttered, my heart and stomach clenching in knots. "They have to. They have to get Robin back, right?"

The wave started to pull back a little, and I caught sight of a single figure standing on the bridge, with what looked like...four ropes branching out from him.

"Paulie?" I asked in confusion.

The blond shipwright started sliding towards the broken edge of the bridge -- the wave's fault, no doubt about that -- but he managed to stop himself and started pulling hard on the ropes that were sticking out from his sleeves. After a moment, four figures came out of the wave that had receded from the area, each with a rope wrapped around a limb. The only one unconscious was Chopper.

I heard more water coming, and looked up, only to see yet _another_ wave coming.

"Guys, get out of there," I muttered, clenching my teeth as my heartbeat started to rise to an even faster pace.

Luckily, they seemed to have seen it, too, because all of them got up and started to scramble up the steps to where we were as fast as they could. I probably would have laughed when Chopper suddenly woke up and grabbed Zoro's face if the situation hadn't been so life-threatening.

I stumbled back from the railing and the stairs just as the pirates and Paulie managed to shoot up to where we were...while the stairs were demolished by the wave that would have killed them.

"I've never seen anything _like_ that," commented a shipwright near me. "The waves never made it this far before! I thought we'd be safe here."

"Look!" a second shipwright pointed out to where the backstreets used to be. "The tide's ebbing again!"

"Of course it is!" a third responded. "There's gonna be another wave like that, and another after that one."

I swallowed nervously. "And...how often is this supposed to happen?" I asked nervously.

"Aqua Laguna's a once-a-year event, but this year's a little different."

I looked over and saw Paulie sitting cross-legged on the ground nearby, with Luffy lying flat on his back, Nami sitting upright, and Zoro struggling to get Chopper off his face. Paulie was obviously exhausted, but other than being completely soaked, he didn't look like he'd been damaged by the wave that had nearly swallowed him.

I quickly moved over to Zoro and Chopper and started to work at unhooking the little reindeer's hooves from around the swordsman's face. When that didn't work, I tried a different tactic.

Chopper was a doctor, so it should work. Right?

"Chopper, if you don't let go, Zoro's gonna die of asphyxiation," I stated flatly.

That did the trick. The little reindeer promptly released the swordsman's face and backed up a couple steps, giving Zoro enough room to cough and hack while he got his breath back.

"S-sorry, Zoro!" Chopper yelped.

Zoro let out another cough. "You let go, so it's fine." He glanced over in my direction, and I once again felt like those eyes of his were drilling into my soul -- not as much as they had when we first met, but I could still feel it. It was almost like he was trying to figure me out.

"Thanks for the help," Zoro stated, "but I had it."

I rubbed the back of my head somewhat nervously. "Er, well...from where I was standing, it looked like you didn't, so...."

"You morons, you could've died back there," Paulie grumbled as he tried to light his cigar.

"Thanks." Luffy tilted his head back so that he could look at Paulie. "You saved us, Rope Guy."

" _Rope Guy?"_ I spluttered. _Is that his idea of a nickname or something?_

"I didn't know Aqua Laguna would be like that!" Nami's voice shook from fear.

"You and me both," I agreed, glancing back to look at the water that covered where they had been standing a few minutes before. "It doesn't look like something I'd be able to stand every single year, either."

"If it was this bad every year, we'd be sunk," Paulie responded, giving up on lighting his cigar. "We're just as surprised as you folks are."

Well, that was news to me. "Then...what made it get this bad?" I looked back out over the water again before looking back at Paulie and the pirates.

"Beats me." Paulie shrugged. "This year ain't normal at all."

"You pirates are one step shy of crazy."

I turned my head again and saw the old lady with the frizzy yellow hair walking towards us.

"You shouldn't be alive right now," the old woman added.

"Oh." Luffy started to sit up. "Hey, Monster Granny. I didn't know you were here, too."

What is it with the captain of the Straw Hats and these ridiculous nicknames?

"Well, of course I am!" "Monster Granny" replied. "I may be drunk, but I'm not stupid enough to stay out in this storm!" The woman laughed.

"You were awesome, Mr. Pirate!" A little girl with yellow hair the same color as the older woman's ran up and stopped behind the "Monster Granny." She was followed shortly by a blue bunny that was...meowing like a cat?

I can't help but feel like there's something that isn't normal about that.

"Your arms were like, 'boing! boing!'" The girl held up her arms high in the air, while the bunny meowed twice, as though it was mimicking her saying "boing!".

"Yeah, I know."

I couldn't help but get the feeling that Luffy was either completely exhausted...or he had Robin on his mind.

Chopper looked at Luffy unhappily while Zoro gained a serious expression. Something told me that they might have been thinking the same thing.

Luffy turned around and looked in our direction. "Hey, Zoro. What were you doing down there when that wave hit? Couldn't you get away?"

Zoro's eyes narrowed somewhat as he looked over at his captain. "Oh, uh, yeah, y'know...."

"Zoro got stuck in a chimney!" Chopper suddenly spoke up.

Zoro sent the reindeer a dark look and reached out and tried to grab the little guy, but I put my foot in his way.

Like I was about to let the moody swordsman go after such an adorable little kid.

"Do you really want to punish him for telling the truth?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

Zoro glowered at me, then turned away and crossed his arms over his chest, muttering dark curses under his breath.

I guess he doesn't want to fight me...or maybe he just doesn't think I'm worth his energy.

There's a scary thought.

"You got stuck in a chimney?" Luffy repeated in an awed voice. Then he burst out into loud laughter and nearly fell over backwards before he started clapping his hands above his head. "Zoro, you dope! I couldn't be that lame if I tried!"

 _BONK_!

Nami hit Luffy on the head again and yanked on one of the rubber captain's cheeks before yelling, "Don't forget -- you did the same thing twice! You're _both_ dopes, okay?!"

Okay...and I thought Sanji's heart-for-an-eye was weird...now Nami's eyes are completely white and her teeth look like they got _reeeeally_ pointy all of a sudden....

I swallowed nervously when I saw Nami's expression. If I was on their crew, I would hate to get on her bad side.

The grin that was on Luffy's face faded pretty quickly, and the one eye that still was open -- the other was shut because Nami was stretching his face -- looked around. "Hey. Where's Sanji and Uso --" Luffy paused for a moment. "Wait. Where's Sanji?"

I blinked when I noticed that he had cut himself off. Was he about to ask where Usopp was?

Nami looked over at Luffy. "Oh, yeah. There's a lot of stuff I need to tell you." She looked over at the green swordsman sitting on the grass near me. "You too, Zoro."

The swordsman looked over at the navigator with an indifferent expression. He was probably still mad at me for getting in between him and Chopper.

Nami made quick work of explaining what Iceberg had told us back at the Galley-La building, making sure to condense it enough that it practically didn't take any time at all. She did leave a few details out, as well -- like the fact that Franky was on that train -- but she probably didn't see those as particularly important.

Zoro was actually the first one who spoke after the orange-haired navigator was done filling him and Luffy in.

"So let me get this straight. You're saying that Robin sacrificed herself to protect us?"

"That's right," Nami confirmed.

Zoro reached up with his left hand and scratched the left side of his face. "Hmmm. Cook and Usopp are on the train with her, huh?" The swordsman looked over at Luffy, who had moved when Nami was talking to look out over where the back streets had been. "Well, what should we do, Captain?"

We all looked expectantly at Luffy for a moment, and I couldn't help but wonder what he was thinking about right at that moment. I mean, with people as crazy as they are on his crew, he'd have to be pretty crazy himself....

Luffy raised his hands, and I distinctly heard something slam together when he brought his fists in front of him. "Only one thing to do." He turned around and looked at the rest of us. "We set off and rescue them right away!"

We stood around (or sat, as was Zoro's case) for a moment.

"I had a feeling you'd say that," Zoro finally stated, getting to his feet.

It was at this point that I figured it was now or never. If I was going to help them at all, I had to speak now.

The only time I let myself have was to steel myself for the statement I was about to make.

"I want to come with you guys!" I burst out.


	14. Rocket Man!

**Maria's POV**

Luffy and the Straw Hats all turned their attention to me, and I couldn't help but feel a little nervous, what with the gazes of four pirates locked onto me. Behind them, another wave came crashing up, but it didn't come over the stone railing.

"Are you nuts?" Nami demanded as she glared at me. "Even with that weird staff thing you can do, there's no way you'd be able to help!"

"I feel like...I have to help." My hands were clenched at my sides. Luffy let Paulie run around in the Galley-La building even after all those...Finger Pistols had hit the shipwright. Why not me? "I may not know how to fight right now, but it's a part of my past -- that's probably why I have this thing in the first place!"

My right arm shot up, and I held my hand open and called on my staff. It took a second for the light to flash and the phoenix staff to appear -- maybe because of the rain? -- but I managed to get it to appear anyway.

I ignored the shipwrights' gasps behind me when the staff appeared. They'd already seen it when I was back in Galley-La, so....

I wondered why the people around here were shocked so easily by stuff like my staff and Chopper transforming. It kinda felt like they were...overreacting. Was this something that normally happened in the world?

"B-Besides, Robin is more than just some crewmember, right?" I added, looking around at each of the Straw Hats. "There's a deep bond between all of you -- I can tell that much -- and if I'm going to travel around with you guys in order to get my memories back, then I want to be able to repay you back for that. Please...let me help."

The Straw Hats looked at me for a moment, and then Zoro, Chopper, and Nami all looked over at Luffy. Of course, he's the captain of their crew -- he'd be the one to make the final decisions.

The question is, though...will he let me come along?

Luffy eyed me with a serious expression, one that made it look like he was ready to kill somebody. For a moment, I wondered if he was going to knock me out with one of those pistol shots of his for asking such a question. The thought made my knees want to knock together, but I made it a point to keep that under control.

I wanted to look as brave as I could, even though my heart was going a million miles a minute. Maybe...like with Paulie's determination...they'd let me come with them if I showed my own?

Luffy bowed his head for a moment, hiding the upper half of his face beneath the brim of his straw hat. "Are you really sure that you want to do this?"

I blinked in confusion for a moment upon hearing the pirate captain speak, and then I gave a nod, a determined look crossing my face. "Yeah. If I'm going to get off Water 7 and travel around with you, I have to be able to do something, right? Why not start now?" My right hand's grip tightened on the phoenix staff. "Besides...." A slight smirk came upon my face as I looked at Luffy; it felt good having it there, like I was used to doing it a lot. "...what good would my forgotten fighting skills be if I don't force them out somehow?"

Zoro, Nami, Chopper, Paulie, the old woman, the child, the bunny, and the shipwrights all looked at me with these strange expressions...like they weren't expecting me to do or say something like this. Well, I guess that comes from having amnesia for the past eight days and not recalling anything like I have been. Up until now, I've been a curious kid who might have gotten into trouble completely by accident.

But now, talking like this...holding my staff like it is and with this smirk on my face...it feels like a part of me has come back.

"Shishishishishishi!" Luffy looked back up at me with that wide grin of his. "You've got that right! You should join my crew!"

"LUFFY?!"

The other three Straw Hats present looked at their captain in shock and surprise, but I was just completely befuddled. He...he was asking me to become a pirate? To have adventures like he's had and to travel the seas?

"Can...can I have some time to think about that?" I asked, letting my nervousness slip through again. I would like to have adventures, sure, but I don't think that being a wanted criminal is such a good idea!

"Sure! But I expect an answer!" Luffy's grin seemed to become even wider as he spoke. No normal person could have a grin that took up half their face...maybe he's able to do it because he's made of rubber?

Nami gave a sigh of annoyance and shook her head before bringing up something that was even more important than me joining the crew

"Now that we've got _that_ out of the way, what are we going to do about following the Sea Train and Sanji?" the navigator asked.

Luffy's grin vanished pretty quickly, and he gave a nod before looking over in Paulie's direction. "Hey, Rope Guy! We need a ship!"

OK...and how is it that he's the captain again? With the waves that Aqua Laguna's thrown at us so far, it'd be impossible for a ship to survive in one piece!

"Or maybe there's another Sea Train?" Luffy added quickly, his eyes still on the blond shipwright sitting on the soggy grass.

I frowned. "How would a Sea Train be any different from a ship? We'd probably end up getting tossed around on those waves either way."

"Well, it's not like we have any other options," Nami replied, sending a sour look in my direction. "Unless you can sprout wings and fly."

Sheesh, she didn't have to be so snarky about it. I shook my head. "I doubt that's going to happen. That sounds way too weird, even with what's happened to me so far."

"There's only one Sea Train in the world, and that's the Puffing Tom," Paulie stated in a low growl, getting us to look over at him. "The man who made that thing is a legend, and it's a miracle he managed to finish the thing at all in ten years' time."

"Then let us have a ship!" Luffy replied. "One that's really strong and fast!"

Going back to option one? Really?

"Luffy, did you _see_ those waves?" I asked in a squeak, motioning to the water behind us. "Something tells me a ship isn't going to make it!"

"Nami could handle it," Luffy replied in a calm manner, shrugging.

He's got a lot of trust in his crewmate's ability, but --

"Stop kidding around, you damn idiot!" Paulie barked. "Don't you remember, when we were almost swallowed by the sea?! And that's when we're on land. There's no way in hell that you're going to be able to sail in this weather and get out of it alive!"

There came yells of agreement from the shipwrights around us, and I nodded in agreement myself. We'd probably get flipped over by one of the waves if we went out there on a ship.

Luffy glared at the shipwrights who were calling him out as an idiot, his teeth clenched. He looked either angry or annoyed, but I wasn't exactly sure which one it could be.

"Even in past years, no one could set sail in Aqua Laguna," Paulie added. "You saw what happened to the backstreets, right? This is the first year the waves have ever done damage like that."

I glanced back at the stone railing, and then the water beyond that. The bridge that had been set up a moment ago had a jagged break in it. The wave did that.

And that is why one should have a healthy fear of water.

"This year ain't normal." Paulie reached up and fingered the cigar in his mouth, but then remembered that it wasn't lit and dropped his hand. "Even if we were to send out our best ship, it would be shattered to pieces in one hit. I'm not gonna give you a ship just so that you can die out there." The blond shipwright got up to his feet with a grunt. "Wait till morning, and I'll give you a ship to go after them then."

Wait for the storm to stop...that sounds like a good idea.

Paulie turned to look at the shipwrights. "You guys head for the shelters -- we're done with the search. I don't want anyone to be swallowed up by the waves out here."

"Right!" came the unanimous response.

"If...."

I looked back behind me when I heard Nami's voice. Her head was bowed down a little, her bright orange hair flowing in front of her face. I couldn't see her expression as a result.

"If we wait till morning, we won't make it in time rescue Robin, will we?" Nami asked coldly.

I didn't like the sound of her voice. My grip tightened on my staff, and my heart rate felt like it had skipped a beat.

"I know what kind of place Enies Lobby is -- I heard about it long before we came here," Nami continued with her cold tone, stepping forward. "I remember that you'd said it's a government island. But it's not just that -- Enies Lobby is where the Gates of Justice are located."

"Gates of Justice....?" I repeated, blinking. "What are those?" It didn't sound like anything a pirate would want to be near, but...

I looked over at Paulie, since that was the person that Nami was locking eyes with. I wondered how he was going to react to Nami's statement.

It looked like he had seen a ghost, what with his eyes as wide as they were. I bet his cigar _really_ would have fallen out of his mouth if he wasn't used to keeping it balanced on his lower jaw.

"Enies Lobby is known as the Judicial Island," Nami stated grimly, her voice loud so that she could be heard over the rain and the wind. "But that's a lie. The court they have there is only for show."

What? What kind of people only keep around a courtroom for show?! If it's called the "Judicial Island," wouldn't they be known for their fair trials?

"A courthouse for show?" I repeated aloud, frowning. "They don't get a fair trial, even though they're criminals?"

At the back of my head, something tickled. I reached back with my left hand in order to see if there was a bug or something there, but I didn't feel anything, and the tickling persisted.

"The truth is, if you're taken there, then you're already considered guilty," Nami stated. "When you arrive, the government walks you through an empty courtroom, leading to a pair of cold, steel doors that tower over the entire island. Those doors are called the Gates of Justice. If a criminal enters them, they never see the light of day again and are consumed by despair."

Something didn't feel right about this. My heart was twisting in knots, and voices from the back of my mind started to try and surface while the tickling sensation increased.

One voice in particular -- a man's voice, smooth yet gruff and experienced -- seemed to want to say something, but they weren't completely clear.

"From a harbor on the other side, they go out to the sea again. The criminals are sent to one of two locations -- neither of which you are _ever_ likely to leave. One is the headquarters of all Justice, Marine Headquarters, where the strongest military forces are gathered. The other is the location for torture and execution...Impel Down, the strongest prison in the world. No matter how vicious they may be, the criminals that are sent there can only wait for death."

 _Justice_...why do I get the feeling that the definition of that word was skewed when the Marines decided to say their HQ was "the headquarters of all Justice"?

At that thought, the voice that was trying to get my attention increased in volume above the other voices. I wondered for a moment if I was crazy, but then I realized that they were voices from my memories. Had something similar to this happened to me before?

"In other words, going to Enies Lobby is no different than a death sentence. No trial, no justice, and no hope of escape." Nami paused, seeming to gather her thoughts together. "Robin is a wanted criminal with a bounty on her head. Wherever she goes beyond Enies Lobby, she'll face death or worse. As we speak, Robin is getting closer to the Gates of Justice. We can't wait till morning, so don't you dare tell us to!"

It was at this point that my blood started to run cold -- colder than the rain falling down around us. An empty courtroom...only two places that they can go...something didn't feel right about this. Yes, Robin was a wanted criminal, yes, she has a bounty on her head, but her goal wasn't bloodthirsty in the slightest! All she wanted to do was learn about history. There wasn't anything about that that made her dangerous...except for when people wanted to stop her, maybe...but why would people even want to get in the way of a historian?

The Marines weren't even giving Robin a fair trial!

That thought of realization caused a burst of energy to flow through me as my anger rose -- it felt like my temperature was rising, too. Like my entire body could burst into flames at any moment.

And that's when the voice that had been trying to come through clearly finally made some sense.

_"Their Justice courts are a dangerous place to be in at any time, according to what I have been told by those who survived. And they were few in number."_

After that, it made me not think quite straight. If Chopper had been near me with a thermometer, he'd probably try to tell me to lie down and take ice to my head to bring down the fever. As it was, it looked like there was steam rising from _somewhere_ near me. Maybe that was the rain?

"Why....why those...." The words didn't want to come to mind for some reason. I got the feeling that there were a number of creative words that I used before, but they weren't coming to mind.

So, I decided to take a word from Paulie's vocabulary. "Those bastards!"

It isn't a _nice_ word, I'll admit that, and it didn't feel all that good in my mouth, either. But I couldn't remember what other words I normally used, so I'd have to work with that for now.

"Whoa...." Luffy's voice drifted into my ears. "How'd you manage to make all that steam?! That's so cool!"

"If you know that much, I'll tell you one thing." Paulie's words came through my anger next. "Even if the sea was calm and we had a ship that was able to sail, did you forget the fact that you were _pirates_?"

I gritted my teeth. I'm not roped in with them as a pirate...but Paulie's right. They may as well be like lambs going to slaughter. And being angry about the justice system wasn't going to help. I took a few deep breaths, and my heart rate slowed down while the steam started to dissipate.

"Enies Lobby is a government island, and the front door to their own personal playground, so there's gonna be more than just a _few_ Marines," Paulie added. "Any other pirate crew who's lost members to them haven't gone after them because they know what's going to happen if they do -- they may as well be declaring war on the World Government! Are you sure that you will be able to take on all that?"

"If it means putting a stop to unfair laws...." My grip tightened on my staff. "I'm definitely willing to go." I could see the shipwrights and everyone else giving me weird looks again -- I was feeling weird myself. I didn't think I'd get this angry about anything before now.

But...if the government was willing to put a stop to learning about history, I could deal with the weirdness while I helped put a stop to whatever they were planning to do with Robin.

"You're idiots -- all of you!" one of the shipwrights shouted. "There's no way you'd be able to survive -- even if the weather was good!"

My gaze somehow managed to work its way back to Luffy, who wasn't reacting to the shipwright's shouts. At all. It was kind of...well, kind of unnerving.

"Luffy?" Nami asked, noticing the same thing that I did.

"Fine then!" Luffy slammed a foot down as he glared at the shipwrights. "We'll _steal_ a ship!"

A wave crashed up the stairs and sent the shipwrights scurrying.

"Our crewmate is counting on us!" Luffy roared. "Don't get in our way!"

Paulie stood in front of the wave, not even flinching while his fellow shipwrights scattered in order to stay away from the water that threatened to drag them out to sea.

"We're leaving NOW!" Luffy declared.

The shipwrights exchanged nervous looks. Paulie shifted his stance and pulled a rope out of his sleeve.

"Listen, Straw Hat, if you want a fight, you've got one," Paulie growled.

Luffy and the others stiffened up, and I could see Zoro reaching for the swords that hung from his right hip. I shifted, too, so that I could have both hands on my staff rather than just my right. I'm sure that I can give somebody a hard knock to the head with this if I needed to.

"All of you, stop it!"

I stiffened up a little, then turned and looked in the direction of the person who had spoken. I ended up becoming a little confused when I saw it was the "Monster Granny," who now had an angered look on her face.

"Kokoro?" Nami asked, sounding confused.

Ah, so that's her name. Better than "Monster Granny" at any rate.

"Stop being such a damn fool, Straw Hat," Kokoro continued, walking towards the group. "Like it or not, Paulie's right on this one."

Luffy turned around to face the woman, an annoyed expression on his face. "Shut up, Granny! It's none of your business!"

"You sure about that?" Kokoro replied. "Look, boy, either way, we're just tryin' to stop ya from killin' yerself."

Luffy hesitated. I relaxed a little bit myself, but I didn't remove my hands from my staff. Nami didn't look like she was about to let go of her blue staff, either.

Speaking of which, _where_ was she keeping _that_ on her person, because I doubt that anyone else would be able to just summon a staff like I've been doing. I didn't see a flash of light or anything like with mine, anyway.

"The point is, no matter how mad you are, no ship can handle Aqua Laguna. Only a Sea Train made by a legendary man can handle the storm."

"I know that, but I don't have any other choice!" Luffy shot back. "The only Sea Train in the world has left town already!"

"Is that what you think?"

The Straw Hats looked at each other; I moved my left hand back to my side while planting the butt of the phoenix staff in the ground.

"Do you know something?" I asked, cocking my head to one side.

Kokoro gave a knowing look, her gaze moving around to look at the Straw Hats and me. Her eyes paused for a moment on me, and then she started to turn.

"If you want to die, that's just fine," Kokoro stated. "If you feel like it, come with me. We'll brave the storm on _my_ Sea Train."

" _Your_ Sea Train?" I repeated, blinking. "So there is more than one?"

"Well, the only way to find out is to follow me, isn't it?" Kokoro commented. She let out a cackle, then started walking away.

I looked over at the Straw Hats, wondering how they were going to react to Kokoro's statement.

Luffy put a hand on the hat on his head and stood still for a moment...then started walking after the woman. Zoro and the others were quick to follow, with me in the rear.

**Time Break**

"Whoa!" Chimney exclaimed. "It's a secret base!"

"It's been more than eight years since anyone's set foot in here," Kokoro intoned.

We were standing in front of some sort of shed near the docks. The stone walls and the wooden doors were mostly covered in moss and clearly looked like it could have fallen apart if it was left alone for much longer...or if it hadn't been built so well.

"Doesn't look like it's been touched in a long time," I commented, looking up at the faded "No. 2" inscribed on the brick-red stone. I wondered what Nami would think of this when she got here. The navigator had run off for some reason, and the orange-haired pirate hadn't really given any of us an explanation as to what she was doing.

"Well, we haven't ever had the need to," Kokoro replied. "We haven't used this Sea Train in about twelve years." She started into the shed and down the steps that were inside. The rest of us followed after her, Chimney moving close to me as the Straw Hats moved ahead of me.

On our way to the shed, the little yellow-haired girl with the blue bunny that acted like a cat seemed to be really interested in me and my staff. It made me a bit nervous, honestly, especially when I mentioned that I didn't remember how I got it.

"Oooh! So, you're like the hero who doesn't remember anything about themselves!" Chimney had exclaimed.

It had pretty much digressed her chanting some sort of nonsense while we moved through the silent city to the shed.

"Come on, Chopper!"

"Right!"

The voices of the captain and the doctor shook me out of my thoughts, just as the two ran ahead of us and further down the stairs.

"I'm warning you, the thing may not run anymore," Kokoro warned as we followed after them.

Luffy turned around and looked up at Kokoro in alarm. "What? Then why did you tell us about it? You've gotta be kidding me!"

Kokoro simply laughed, then took a swig from the purple wine bottle that she was carrying. It kind of made her look like a bit of a drunk, honestly. The fact that the woman spoke with a drunken tilt in her voice didn't help much, either.

Luffy took Kokoro's laugh to mean that the "Monster Granny" _was_ kidding, and he promptly kept running ahead of us, Chopper right next to him.

We reached the base of the stairs pretty quickly, then kept moving forward, deeper into the shed...which I'm pretty sure by now that really is more of a secret entrance to some underground base than a shed.

"Now now, boys, you can run as fast as you like, but you're not getting in without the key," Kokoro called out, rolling a ring of keys on one of her fingers. Then she paused. "Huh? Now that's weird...."

I looked ahead of us and frowned, as well -- it looked like the large, wooden doors ahead of us had already been opened up. Luffy had his hands already gripping one of the doors and was prying it open.

It didn't take Luffy too much time in order to get both doors open wide. As soon as the crack between the doors was wide enough, he moved between the doors and pushed them both out, stretching his arms as he did.

I'm surprised to say that I'm only just starting to get used to that ability of his. Only just. I still think it's pretty cool, though.

"Whoa! This is so cool! Check out the face!" Luffy burst out into loud laughter.

I agreed with the pirate on that. And I certainly wasn't expecting a train to look like _that_. Do trains normally have a pointy front end with a mouth lined with shark teeth painted on under the...the nose cone, I guess?

The train wasn't all that long, either -- it was just the train and two...train cars, I think they're called. But only one of them actually had windows and a roof -- the other was open and looked like it was filled to the brim with coal.

"Unlike the Puffing Tom, this one here's a crazy train," Kokoro commented as we caught up with Luffy and Chopper. "It's called the Rocket Man. Comes with no guarantees, so board at your own risk."

Luffy definitely looked excited. I was standing behind him, though, so I couldn't really tell other than the fact that he was making an excited noise in unison with Chopper. They must have been really excited to see a train designed like this.

I could honestly say that I was a little excited myself -- we had a ride to go after Robin!

"Did you have to add the face?" Zoro asked, eyeing the shark-like grin and the glaring eye that we could see painted on the side of the front of the train.

"Nope!" Kokoro turned and grinned at the swordsman. "Don't worry -- it may be mean, but it won't bite."

I let out a laugh myself. "I guess we'll have to take your word for that, right?" I walked over to the front of the train in order to give it a closer look. The metal clearly looked like it had seen better days, but it might be able to hold up better than wood in a storm like what was going on outside.

Right then, there came the sound of a door closing, and my head turned towards the source of the noise. A familiar figure was walking out from behind the train engine, wrapped up in bandages and carrying what looked like some sort of silver briefcase.

"Hey, look -- it's Ice Pops," Luffy identified.

Iceberg reached the base of the stairs leading away from the train and turned to look at us. "Well, hello, Straw Hat. So, you're okay, after all. It seems your friends' faith is well-founded." His attention shifted. "I assume you brought them here, Kokoro?"

"Yes, but the question is, what are you doing here?" the woman asked. "You've been through a lot today -- you need rest."

"Well...let's just say that you and I were thinking the same thing." Iceberg gave a knowing half-smile in the woman's direction. "We have a soft spot for idiots, don't we?"

Kokoro gave a loud laugh, and I couldn't help but grin stupidly. The woman was clearly enjoying herself, and honestly, I don't mind that Iceberg called us all idiots. There's something about it that doesn't really affect me somehow.

Iceberg chuckled, then walked over to a pair of wooden crates that were sitting on the other side of the room and sat down.

"Go ahead," he stated, motioning to the train. "I just finished servicing it. Water and coal have been loaded, and the steam's building up now."

Eh? Steam? I looked up at the train again as Luffy ran along the side of it. The train runs on steam? How does that work?

"Thanks for getting it ready for us!" Luffy exclaimed, turning to look at Iceberg. "We owe you one!"

"I wouldn't celebrate yet, if I were you," Iceberg warned. "You might not even survive the ride."

The confused look that had been on my face faded. Iceberg was right about that. The storm was going to cause more than enough damage to us that we could capsize -- or worse. I don't know _how_ a train on water works, but there's got to be a lot going on in order to get something like that to stay above the waves. I don't even know how a Sea Train works.

"This was our failed prototype before we made the Puffing Tom," the mayor of Water 7 added. "No matter how you tune it, you can't control it's speed. In other words, it's a runaway train."

Oh, boy. _That's_ going to be fun to ride. Especially with the waves as they are.

Luffy grinned. "That's fine. It can go as fast as it wants."

We may actually need that speed....

I was shaken out of my thoughts when Luffy suddenly lifted up the stairs that Iceberg had come down, then carried it over to the other car and placed it down in front of the door. "Come on! What are you guys waiting for? Let's get on!" Luffy suddenly leaned back too far and pinwheeled his arms around before grabbing the door in front of him and pulling it open. "We need to be ready, so that when Nami gets here, we can leave!"

"Are you sure you're okay, Luffy?" Chopper asked as he and Zoro moved over to their captain. "You've been pretty shaky on your feet since we found you."

Oh? So he isn't that naturally off-kilter with his balance? A frown came over my face. Did it...have something to do with the fight that happened after I was knocked out? Or was it all the water -- I mean, the Straw Hats _did_ say he couldn't swim anymore....

"He probably just lost too much blood," Zoro commented, eyeing his captain as he stepped into the train car.

Well. Definitely had something to do with the fight, but....

"If he lost a lot of blood, then shouldn't he be lying down or something?" I asked, looking over at Chopper.

The reindeer gave a nod, glancing over at me before looking back at Luffy. "That would be the best option, but Luffy isn't about to take a nap now."

"But..you're his doctor, right? Shouldn't someone like you be able to exert some authority in a medical situation like this and keep him down?"

"I would if I could, but...." Chopper sighed and shook his head. "Luffy's too stupid to listen."

"I am feeling kinda dizzy."

I looked up at Luffy, who was looking back at us and wiping his forehead with one arm.

"I think I need some meat," Luffy admitted.

I blinked in confusion. "Meat? How can meat help?"

Chopper sighed again.

"Sorry I took so long!"

My, Chopper's, and Zoro's heads turned when we heard the familiar voice, and I caught sight of Nami running towards us.

"Nami," Zoro identified.

Luffy half-stepped out of the car and, shaking a fist, called out, "Hey! Save the small talk for later! Get on board so we can go!"

I blinked, then frowned as I looked at Nami -- or, rather, what was behind her. "Uh, Nami? Who are those two guys, and what's with the cart and the sack?"

The two guys came skidding to a stop, marveling at the Rocket Man and commenting about how they didn't know that it was down where we were. It took me a moment, but after looking back and forth between them, I realized that the two men had on identical outfits to Kokoro's. I didn't let myself dwell on that fact, though, when I saw Nami grab the sack and yank it out of the cart, spilling its contents all over the place.

Food. And lots of it. I suddenly remembered that the last time I had eaten was breakfast that morning.

"I got you guys some food and drinks because I figured you'd be hungry," Nami stated.

Luffy instantly dove for the pile and grabbed at a stick of meat while Zoro's hand grasped the bottleneck of a container of what looked like wine. The green-haired swordsman was quick to grab more, grinning with delight as he did.

"Is...is Zoro an _alcoholic?_ " I asked, glancing over at Nami.

The orange-haired navigator sighed and shrugged. "Yeah..."

"That's probably going to bite him in the backside someday."

"No it's not!"

I jumped back a little when Zoro barked, glaring at me like I had just accused him of not taking good care of his swords.

"Eh...well, maybe not right now...." I rubbed the back of my head nervously.

Zoro eyed me for a moment, then snorted and turned back to his alcohol, pulling a cork out of a bottle with his teeth open before starting to chug the bottle's contents down.

"Here!" Luffy held up a giant pineapple and waved it in Chopper's general direction. "You need to eat something too, right?"

"Yeah!" Chopper chomped down on the fruit and proceeded to chew and swallow.

I took the invitation and grabbed a pineapple with my left hand, then considered the fruit for a moment. I wasn't planning on just biting into it straightaway -- the spikes on the outside looked a little dangerous.

So, I decided to improvise.

Retreating a short distance from the others, I placed the pineapple on the ground, lifted my staff high, and slammed the phoenix figurehead into the pineapple. Surprisingly, it split the citrus fruit clean in half. Meh -- at least I could start digging into the insides without worrying about swallowing a spine by accident.

I was starting to dig into one half of the pineapple when we were rudely interrupted by an unfamiliar voice.

"STRAW HAT!!!"

I jumped upon hearing the unfamiliar roar, then looked up from my partially eaten pineapple, some of the fruit still in my mouth. I swallowed my mouthful while I took in the people who had just arrived.

The lot of them were wearing bandages and strange goggles that sat over their eyes. The rest of their attire, though, was even stranger -- I mean, fishnet tights? On _men?_ And the strange, black clothing pieces that only went from their legs up to right below their chests?

That is a sight that I do not think I wanted to see. I probably might have thrown up, but the sight just gave me the feeling that I wasn't so hungry anymore.

Luffy stood up, a bunch of meat in his mouth -- I clearly saw a couple bones sticking out from either side of his face. "Who's there?" he demanded through his mouthful.

"The Franky Family!" Nami identified.

I stiffened upon hearing Nami's exclamation. "These are the guys who gave you so much trouble yesterday?" My voice squeaked a couple times as I looked between Nami and the people standing at the exit from the room. "What are _they_ doing here? I hope they haven't come looking for a fight...."

Zoro gently placed the bottles on the ground, then got to his feet and glared at the Franky Family. "We're kinda busy right now," he growled.

"Straw Hat...." The Franky Family member in the front -- one half of his goggles broken and spiky black hair sticking up all over the place -- looked up at Luffy. "You gotta take us with you! We heard from Galley-La that you guys were planning on taking a Sea Train to Enies Lobby! Those government bastards took Franky -- they took our bro away from us! We wanna go, but we can't go through Aqua Laguna alone!"

"Ya sure ya wanna pick a fight on their turf?" Kokoro asked.

Meanwhile, I was sitting there dumbfounded. These guys had caused Luffy and the others trouble just a day ago -- and they're coming to the Straw Hats looking for help? That's quite the turnaround. Maybe Paulie knocked some sense into them or something?

"We're ready to fight anyone -- anywhere!" the half-goggled man declared.

"We gotta get our bro back!" another added.

"I don't care what happens to us so long as we can save him!" A woman with hair shaped like a giant square and her clothes completely themed in yellow stepped forward, placing a hand to her chest.

A similarly attired woman -- wearing red this time -- dashed forward and added, "Please, help us, Straw Hat! We'll do anything!"

I looked over at Luffy. He was just standing there, the bones that had been sticking in his mouth gone, and he was chewing on what looked like the large leg of a bird.

"Please!" the first Franky Family member called out. "If we don't hurry, Bro is done for!"

"You've gotta be kidding me!" Nami responded. "First you steal our money, beat up our friend, then you ask us for _help?_ "

The man with the half-goggles collapsed onto his knees and bent his head. "I don't care! Even if it's wrong, I'm begging you!"

I cocked my head to one side, watching each member of the Franky Family either shake from tears or look at us with such longing that it seemed that they were trying to send messages on a more mental level. It felt like something like that had happened to me, once, but the rest of the memory -- vision, smell, sound -- wasn't coming so easily. I'd probably get it later, so I put it out of my mind. After all, rescuing Robin was kinda top priority at this point.

"I'll give up my pride if I can save him!" the kneeling man added.

OK...that is a man who's willing to give up everything in order to get his ally back.

I looked over at Luffy. "What do you think?"

The black-haired captain swallowed his last mouthful of meat, then turned and walked back to the passenger car with no trouble. Eating must have done _something_ for him, at least. I watched him walk up the stairs, then pause.

"Come on," Luffy stated, turning to look at the Franky Family and jab a thumb at the innards of the car.

A grin crossed my face while Nami stiffened in surprise and looked back at her captain.

"Hurry up!" Luffy barked.

The Franky Family stared blankly at Luffy for a moment, then let out a collective cheer.

"Thank you so much, Straw Hat!" the one on his knees called out.

"Are you sure about this?" Nami demanded while I took another bite of my pineapple.

"Eh. It's fine." Luffy gave one of his signature grins, and I heard a thudding noise on the other side of the room; apparently, the man on his knees had hit his head against the floor.

Was he trying to give himself a concussion or something?

"Thank you! Thank you, Straw Hat!"

"Well, let's go!" Luffy hadn't moved from where he was standing, but something told me he was impatient to get moving. It might have had something to do with the fact that he had been yelling a second ago.

"Wait!" The man on the floor raised a hand. "We don't have to get on the train, though!"

I blinked. "You don't?"

The man with the half-goggles got to his feet, grinning. "All we've gotta do is hop on our King Bulls and head off the same time the train takes off! All you've gotta do is let the bulls catch a ride on your tail!"

King Bulls? Sounds like some kind of sea creature, if this Franky Family guy is talking like that.

"What are King Bulls?" Zoro asked, apparently wondering the same thing.

"Anyway, we're off!" Half-goggles gave a mock salute. "Thanks! See ya soon!"

With that, the Franky Family members turned right around and ran out.

"Well, that was...weird," I commented, blinking a couple times as the figures disappeared from sight.

Nami groaned and shook her head. "Why do I even bother...?" She turned and looked up at the passenger car, and I noticed that Luffy wasn't standing in the entrance anymore. "We'd better get on. We don't have much time."

I gave a grim nod, thinking back to the warning the navigator had given earlier. "Yeah. It would be bad if we didn't make it." I climbed up the steps quickly and walked into the passenger car just as Kokoro was calling for some help up front to shovel coal into the engine, and she wasn't about to let Iceberg do it.

The inside of the passenger car certainly wasn't something that I had expected. There weren't any seats or anything that might have hinted at it even _holding_ passengers. Luffy was sitting in a corner, his legs crossed and his hands on his knees. I decided to take the wall closest to the train, since I definitely didn't want to be near the windows in a storm like what was going on outside.

Nami let out a groan as she stepped in, dragging the large bag of food behind her. "Oh, you have _got_ to be kidding me." She dropped the bag in the center of the room, then sat down to my right in a huff, eyeing my staff, which I had lying across my lap. If we were going to run into anything, I didn't want it to be out of sight at all.

"Why do you have that thing out?" Nami asked. "It's not like you're going to be needing it."

"Well, you never know," I replied as Zoro stepped in.

The swordsman looked around for a moment at the sparse car, snorted, then walked over to the back wall and lay down flat on the wooden floor with his hands behind his head, shutting his eyes as he did so. I wondered if it really was the right time to be sleeping, but Zoro's sudden retort at my alcohol comment made me think he probably didn't want to be disturbed.

I looked around the car again at the other teens that were sitting around. I couldn't really believe that they were capable of getting along and working together, they were so different -- and Zoro's and Sanji's angry words this morning and the night before kinda cemented that fact.

I wondered if the swordsman and the cook _ever_ got along. At all.

And yet....

A loud whistle shook me out of my thoughts, and the train began to move.

The movement seemed to make Luffy come alive almost instantly. Before, he had just been sitting wit his head bowed a little, hands on his knees, but as soon as the car shifted, his head was up, there was a large grin on his face, and he suddenly dashed for the door. Opening it wide, he practically flew out and in an upward direction, one hand remaining behind long enough to close the door behind him.

"What the --"

"Don't worry about him."

I looked over at Nami, blinking in confusion. I had half-risen from my seat when Luffy had shut the door behind him, and Nami's statement made me wonder why I had moved in the first place.

"Why did he leave?" I asked, shifting back into my sitting position.

Nami shrugged. "He likes to sit on figureheads for some reason. I don't know _why_ \-- he just does."

"Figure...heads...?"

"Yeah, you know -- the very front of the boat. Shipwrights sometimes put carvings there if the builder asks them to. There are some pretty interesting ones out there."

"Oh." I blinked a couple times. "So, does that mean he's sitting _on_ the train? Right now?"

"Yup." Nami's bored expression didn't change.

"But it's going to be dangerous, won't it? Sitting out there in the middle of this storm? He could get thrown off!"

"He won't listen until it happens. There's going to be no point in giving him a lecture." Nami sounded dejected, like she'd given up on trying to a long time ago.

_::All right, boys and girls! Hold on tight so you don't fall off!::_

I practically jumped out of my shoes when I heard Kokoro's voice come out from above me somewhere. I looked up, but I didn't see the old woman. Instead, I saw what looked like some sort of speaker. Maybe so that the driver could speak to the passengers?

I could feel the train start to pick up speed, and Zoro must have noticed, too, because now he was sitting upright with a rather eager grin on his face, his right hand gripping one of his swords like he was ready to pull it out any minute.

My right hand tightened its grip around my staff while my left hand planted itself on the floor in an attempt to keep me from moving too much. A back to the wall helped, but I didn't want to slide from side to side and squish Nami against the wall accidentally..or push the door open and go flying out.

_::Now departing Water 7 for Enies Lobby! Here comes Rocket Man!::_

Well, this is it. No turning back, now.

I felt something shift in my gut, but the feeling was strangely familiar -- almost like I'd done something like this before.

"Hey, are you all right?"

I blinked, then turned and looked at Nami. "Uh...yeah. I'm fine."

"OK...." Nami frowned slightly. "If you say so."

I gave a nod, then turned and closed my eyes while I tried to gather my thoughts together. "Don't worry, Nami. Something tells me that I've done something kind of like this before. It feels like I'm ready for this."

There came a snort from Zoro. "You look like you've seen a ghost or something."

A smirk worked its way across my face for a moment before disappearing, and I opened my eyes to look over at Zoro. "Well, it kinda feels that way." I shrugged. "I'll sort my feelings out later, though -- we've got to go rescue your friend before she gets too far first, right?"

Zoro and Nami both nodded at my statement, and I felt glad that I was able to come along with them in order to help.

It felt like I was doing the right thing.


	15. On Our Way

**Maria's POV**

My stomach dropped to the floor and my heart went to my throat when the train suddenly didn't feel like it was connected to the ground. Kokoro had given a word of warning about what she had been planning on doing, but I didn't think that the entire train was going to jump off a ramp or something.

Nami scrambled to her feet and moved to the window. "What in the world _is_ this place?!"

"It's the underground canals!" Kokoro's voice was faint over the roar of the water around us.

_Underground?_

"Is she saying that we're _below_ the city right now?" I asked.

The train slammed into something below it, causing the entire car to shake as waves crashed up on either side of us. I bounced up as soon as we connected, then landed on my rear again. Man, the train was going fast!

What with all the metal it was made out of, I had no doubt that it was going to be able to make it with only a few dents, but what about the rest of us?

"Hey, Luffy!" Nami called out through the window. "Are you okay?!"

Oh, yeah...their captain was on the front of the train.

A second later, Nami got angry and yelled, "Well, DUH! What did you expect would happen?!"

"What happened?" I asked, frowning. "Luffy didn't fall off the train, did he?"

Nami pulled her head back and looked over at me. "No, he didn't." The navigator looked annoyed. "He just has water up his nose."

"Oh. But...that's nothing really to be mad over, is it? I mean, it's just water."

"In this situation, maybe. But dunk Luffy in a pool of it, and he won't be coming back up." The orange-haired navigator huffed. "He really should be more careful. One of these days, that idiot is going to drown from his own stupidity."

"Not with me around, he won't," Zoro responded gruffly, shifting his grip on his swords.

The train suddenly shifted _down_ again, sending Nami flying to the window again so that she could see what was going on. I let out a squeak of surprise and gripped at my staff with both hands as a nervous expression came over my face. At the same time, I could feel Zoro's serious eyes on me, like he was trying to assess me.

I think I could guess at what he was thinking, because I was kind of thinking it, too: _Why in the world did I decide to come along for this?_

Nami let out a yell as the train's descent suddenly became _very_ steep. I was glad that I had my back against a wall, but the speed of the train was actually making my body want to slide towards the _back_ of the train car. I didn't think that I was going to end up doing that, so I planted my staff on the wood in front of me and held it there so that I was less likely to slide around.

Meanwhile, Zoro actually managed to _get up_ and walk over to a window that was on the opposite side of the cab Nami was on! That swordsman has to have an _insane_ sense of balance in order to be able to do that! These pirates must be used to storms or something, because that's the only explanation I can give for Zoro being able to get up like this.

But then I started to get curious. What exactly was it that he got up to look at? I started to pull myself to my feet, but then it was like the train lost the ground again, because my getting _up_ was a lot easier than I had originally expected it to be. When I moved over to a window on Zoro's side, I was practically walking on air.

When I latched onto the window sill and looked out, I saw why it had been so easy to get across the train car. We were in mid-air, and the train was falling...towards a raging sea.

 _Zihihihihihihi_....

A shudder when down my spine at the memory of a week ago, and I shook my head in order to get it out. I couldn't be thinking about that strange figure now, not when I was with people I knew would keep me alive...and people I knew I was going to help.

The sight of the sea coming up to meet us, though, made me pull my head back in and sink down to the floor, gripping my staff like it was a landline. I knew it wasn't, but it was the only thing that I could really hold onto at the moment.

As soon as I was sitting again, with my knees tucked up to my chest, a loud roar came out of nowhere, and I stiffened in surprise.

"What was _that_?" I asked in a yelp.

"STRAW HAT!!!" someone roared outside. "THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR LETTING US COME ALONG! WE'LL NEVER FORGET IT!!!"

The voice was incredibly familiar....

Zoro snorted. "It's the Franky Family."

"Meaning those must be the King Bulls that they were talking about," Nami commented, pulling her head back in to look over at me and Zoro. "I hope they're going to be able to last the storm in that thing. It looks like a regular ship."

"Paulie said a regular ship wouldn't be able to make it, right?" I asked.

The navigator gave a nod. "So do they think that just because they're riding behind us, they'll be able to get through the storm?" Nami looked back out the window again, then let out a yelp and pulled back.

Seconds later, something large came slamming through the back of the train car, causing me to scoot back as far as I could while Zoro moved away from the window himself, raising an arm to protect his face from the wooden debris.

"Are they _firing_ on us?" I asked in alarm as the shredded wooden planks fell to the floor.

"No, " Nami looked extremely annoyed. "It looks like they decided to connect their ship to our train."

"Uh...couldn't they have thought of a better way of doing that?"

"You bastards!"

I looked over at Zoro, blinking in surprise. The swordsman had his upper body sticking out the window again.

"You should've been more careful!" Zoro added. Then he pulled his head in, scowling, and grabbed a bottle of alcohol from the ground and took a swig from it. "Idiots."

I looked over at the two giant metal hooks that were now stuck in the back of the train. "Well...at least they didn't tear the back out...right?"

Zoro send me a dark look, then took another drink from his bottle.

Nami sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "At least we have that," she agreed. "It would be bad news if the train became exposed to the elements even more than it already is. We'd probably end up getting washed out to sea."

The train suddenly took a sharp turn, sending me into a wall with a yelp of surprise.

"And I don't think this crazy driving is helping matters!" I exclaimed.

 _::Attention!::_ Kokoro's voice came over the loudspeakers at the front of the car. _::This train will soon be on the railway! Once we are, our acceleration will increase exponentially! You'd better find something to hold onto, so that we can keep the injuries to a minimum!::_

"Oh, boy," I muttered, tightening my grip on my staff. I had been confident before, but now I was just starting to get nervous. I hadn't done anything like this before! At least...that I could _remember_. But my memories certainly weren't coming back, and I wasn't feeling any more calm about this!

"No turning back now," I muttered to myself.

"A _minimum?"_ Nami repeated. "We'll be injured _regardless??"_ The navigator yelped as the train suddenly shifted beneath us, and she stumbled a little bit in order to regain her balance. I was glad that I was _sitting,_ and managed to stay right where I was.

Sitting still didn't do anything for my innards, though -- they bounced around just as much as the train was while Nami and Zoro did their best to stay upright -- which took little to no effort on their part. And then, all of a sudden, the train hit _something_ and blasted off like it had suddenly been given a speed boost or something.

"Yah!" I skidded a little across the floor when the train picked up speed. "Did we just hit the tracks?"

"Looks like it," Nami called back.

Next stop, Enies Lobby.

**Time Break**

"I thought I was a goner!" Luffy and Chimney exclaimed together.

After we had hit the tracks, Kokoro discovered that her granddaughter and the meowing rabbit had decided to come with us rather than stay with Iceberg, where it was _safe_. Luffy nearly flew off into the storm trying to get them off the side of the train, only to run into one of the guys on the Franky Family's ship.

Then Paulie, Lulu, and Tilestone (a big shipwright with an equally loud voice) had shown up out of nowhere as Kokoro and Chopper had been working their way over to the passenger car -- those stupid shipwrights had decided to stow away, too! And when they were still injured from CP9's attack!

I really wanted to smack Paulie for going out while he was still recovering, but I just settled for a scowl instead, because I didn't want to end up getting hit as a result of my own anger.

Then three members of the Franky Family -- Kiwi and Mozu, the two girls, and Zambei, their surrogate leader -- had entered the cabin with Luffy and Chimney, making things a bit crowded.

And that kinda brings us back to Luffy's and Chimney's exclamation.

"You almost _were_ dead!" Kokoro snapped at the pirate captain and her granddaughter. "Like I said, you needed to get into the train, or else you'd get blown away!"

Luffy let out a groan, then looked over at Kokoro. "That speed was _crazy!"_

"Told ya." Kokoro sounded oddly smug for a woman who had just told Luffy off for nearly getting himself killed.

"Well, we're safe now," I commented, looking around the room before glaring back at Paulie. The shipwright wasn't even looking at me because he was attempting to light a cigar. "What I'm wondering, though, is why you decided to follow us in the first place! You've gotta rest, don't you?"

"And you don't know how to fight _at all_ ," Paulie responded pointedly, finally lighting his cigar and turning his eyes to me.

"S-so what? The Straw Hats promised to let me go with them for a while so that i could recover my memories and travel around, and I wanted to do _something_ to return the favor." I shifted my grip on my staff. "I-I mean, I've got this, so that means I should have _some_ fighting experience, right?"

"That may be," Lulu commented, rubbing his back, "but this is going to be dangerous. You really shouldn't have come."

Luffy laughed through his teeth. "Shishishishishishi! Maria can do what she wants," he stated matter-of-factly. "She's strong."

"And how can you tell?" Paulie demanded.

Luffy paused, considering the shipwright's words. Then he shrugged, "I just can."

That...wasn't really all that helpful. It's weird, though -- Luffy can tell I'm strong? Without any sort of explanation or anything? There must be more to him than meets the eye or something.

"What are you three doing in here, anyway?" Zoro asked, eyeing the three shipwrights.

"I decided to come because I wanted to help," Paulie replied, sending a pointed look in my direction. Meanwhile, Luffy hunted through the bag of food and came up with another piece of meat, which he promptly started to chow down on.

I was starting to wonder if meat was all that Luffy ate. Like, ever. The same went for Zoro, but that was because all he was drinking was alcoholic drinks.

"I tried, but no matter what I said or did I couldn't stop ya," Paulie continued. "And the enemy you'd risk your life against in order to get your friend from...is the exact same one that tried to kill Iceberg. I've got a word or two of my own that I want to say to those bastards."

Tilestone let out a roar. "Yeah! You're not the only one!"

I was glad that I was sitting across from them instead of right next to them, because I'm sure my eardrums would end up getting blown out.

"We figured that if we snuck onto the train and followed you," Tilestone continued at his loud volume, "we figured we'd be right behind you when things went down with those no-good assassins!"

"Well, here we are," Lulu commented. "Seems our hunch was right." He reached up with a hand and pushed down on the spike of hair that was sticking up...only for another spike of hair to show up on the hand he was pushing down on the spike with. "We wanted to be there to help avenge Iceberg."

"Your hair is pretty weird," I remarked, looking over at Lulu. "I mean, normal hair shouldn't be able to do that, should it?"

"Hmmm?" Lulu looked over at his hand. "I don't know. Should it?"

"No...I don't think so."

Chimney giggled at Lulu and his hair, but said nothing.

"Sounds like we all have a common enemy," Zambei commented from the back of the train car. "They're the same ones that kidnapped our bro Franky!"

"Yeah!" one of the women spoke up -- Kiwi or Mozu, I haven't exactly been able to tell yet. They were kind of introduced _by_ Zambei, and he didn't really point out which was which. "No point in playing dumb -- we know exactly who they are."

"Yeah," the other agreed. "Galley-La, if anything happens to him, it's gonna be on your shoulders!"

"Can it," Paulie stated, irritated. "Iceberg's the one who's endured the most here."

"Yeah!" Tilestone roared. A frown came over his face. "Hey, Paulie! It sounds like they're not saying something! What are you guys hiding!?"

Hmmmm? I blinked a couple times. "What are you talking about?"

"Come on, Paulie," Lulu continued. I noticed that the hair that had been on his hand was back on his head. "We have a fair guess at who the culprits are, so we won't be surprised if you tell us. It's time to come clean."

Oh, yeah. Paulie didn't tell them back at the Galley-La building for some reason.

The blond shipwright sighed around his cigar. "All right, fine. The disappearing story was probably too easy to go with. The identities of the masked people were Lucci, Kaku, Kalifa, and Blueno from the bar."

Lulu and Tilestone reacted in the exact opposite of the way that I had expected: they both let out yells of alarm and and dropped their jaws to stare at Paulie in surprise.

"You guys said that you guessed at the culprits!" I yelled at them. "How can you be reacting like this?!"

"We thought it was Michael and Hoight from the backstreets!" Tilestone replied.

"Who?" I blinked in confusion.

"Aaah, that hit the spot! I was starving!"

I turned my head and looked over at Luffy, who was now holding a bone that looked like it had been picked clean. He got up from his seat from the floor, then looked around the train car.

"Right. So, even though we got in a few fights with the Franky Family, and the Galley-La shipwrights, the enemy we're all going after is one and the same," Luffy stated.

I nodded slightly. "Yeah. Those CP9 idiots."

Luffy glanced over at me for a moment, then gave a small nod and looked back at the others. "Now the strongest out of all of them is definitely that Pigeon Guy. I'm gonna beat the crap out of him."

Pigeon Guy...does he mean Lucci? How does he plan on beating Lucci if he was beaten by him before?

"Luffy's right," Zoro spoke up, his arms folded across his chest. "This is a battle to get back what those four goons took from us. So we either reach them in time or all of this is for nothing."

I shivered a little at Zoro's hard tone. He was right, but...

"Granny! Look, it's Aqua Laguna!"

I looked over at Chimney, who was looking out the window at something. I got up to my feet myself and moved over to one of the windows.

"Oh? It's here already?"

Nami moved over and pulled the window Chimney had been looking out open, then poked her head out. I did the same.

Seriously? The wave in front of us _looked just about as big as the one that swallowed the backstreets back in Water 7!_

"Hey -- shouldn't you be up in the engine room?" Nami demanded as she and I retreated from our windows.

"We need to dodge that big wave, or else we're dead!" I added with a squeak of fear.

Kokoro simply laughed. "Sorry kids, but there's nothing I can do to control the Rocket Man now. No breaks, no change in course. My job ended when I got us on the tracks."

Uh oh. I poked my head out the window again and looked up at the dangerous wave. We're _so_ dead.

"Hey, Luffy!"

I glanced back when I heard Nami's voice, and I pulled in and shut my window.

"If we don't do anything about that wave, we're gonna --"

Luffy didn't even look in his navigator's direction; he raised a hand while looking at the Franky Family members and the three shipwrights on board.

"All of us on this train have one goal," Luffy stated. "We have no point in fighting separately."

"Yeah," Zambei agreed with a nod. He reached out with his arm.

"He's right," Paulie intoned. The blond shipwright reached out himself.

I didn't exactly realize what they were doing until I saw that the three arms had formed a triangle shape. Maybe that's their sign of an alliance or something?

"From this point forward," Luffy continued, "we fight as one. There are two more of my crew on that other train."

On the train ahead of us...Nami mentioned Sanji and...is Luffy counting Robin? Or is he counting Usopp, who left when I met them?

"Once we've caught up to them, our fighting force will be even stronger." Luffy's gaze hardened. "Listen up! We're not going to let that big wave beat us! Let's go!"

"Uh....Easier said than done," I spoke up, motioning to the windows. The one that was still open was sending in a lot of cold air that was sending shivers down my spine, but I was doing my best to ignore it. "What exactly are we going to be able to do against the monster wave in our path?"

"I've got an idea," Zambei replied quickly. "Kiwi! Mozu! Let's get back to our ship!"

The two women nodded. "Right!" The trio dashed out of the car -- sending a blast of cold air in at us as they opened and shut the door.

"Wait! We'll come, too!" Tilestone dashed out after the Franky Family members, Paulie and Lulu right on his heels. I let out a sigh of relief, knowing that I wouldn't be getting any more damage to my ear drums now that he had left.

"What are they planning on doing?" I asked, looking around at the others.

Nami shrugged. "They'd better have _something_ in mind, because they probably aren't going to be disconnecting from us anytime soon." She jabbed a thumb in the direction of the metal hooks that were stuck in the wall.

"Yeah. They _did_ say we were their ticket to Enies Lobby."

Right then, there came a series of explosions from outside, and I looked up at the train roof out of surprise.

"Are those... _cannons?"_ I frowned. "What good is a cannon going to be against a wave of _water_?"

_"Budda budda budda budda budda budda."_

I blinked in confusion upon hearing the weird noise. "What?"

Nami pulled back the top of her black tank top and looked down. "It's the Baby Snail Phone that Sanji gave me."

The navigator blinked in confusion as she pulled out a small snail -- _literally_. A _snail._ That was making the noise? How in the world is that even possible?

A grin came across Nami's face. "This must be from Sanji!"

The sleeping snail let out a weird noise, then opened its eyes and looked up at Nami. Then it started _speaking._

"Nami? Nami, can you hear me?"

I don't know what's weirder -- that the snail sounded like Sanji, or that its face shifted so that it had a slight resemblance to the guy on the other end of the line.

"Yeah, I can hear you," Nami replied, speaking directly to the snail. "What's going on, Sanji?"

"I've got some bad news. Things have gotten...complicated."

"Well, he's still _alive_ , so that's good," I commented. "It'd be bad if you guys lost your cook."

"What do you mean?" Nami asked, frowning as she ignored my comment.

The snail's face shifted to a terrified expression and made a whining noise that did _not_ sound like Sanji.

"What was _that_?" I asked, frowning.

"Is there someone _with_ you or something?" Nami added.

"It's nothing." The snail looked irritated. "Just some dumbass."

"Who?" I scratched my head as the noise in the background started to get louder.

"Sanji, _what's that noise?"_ Nami was starting to sound irritated, too. I don't blame her -- Sanji was beating around the bush, I think, and he didn't really want to say who exactly was with him. "It sounds like there's screaming over there! And what do you mean by 'dumbass'?"

"Dumbass _es_ , actually," Sanji replied. The snail frowned. "What's going on at your end, anyway? It sounds like there are explosions or something."

"The Franky Family and three shipwrights are trying to take out a giant wave ahead of us with some cannons," I explained. "Something tells me it isn't exactly working, so they'll need to try something else, or else we're kinda done for."

"I'm sure you two lovely ladies will think of something," Sanji replied easily.

"So, other than the dumbasses," Nami stated, frowning slightly, "what exactly is going on over there?"

"Well, I haven't been able to get to Robin-chan yet. I've gone through two cars already and come up with nothing."

"I see...so they still have Robin." Nami gave a sigh. "Listen, Sanji, I need to tell you why Robin's doing all this."

It was right at this point that Chopper, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit decided to run around us screaming at the top of their lungs, "WE DON'T WANNA DIE!"

" _And_ why everyone's screaming, for that matter," I muttered.

"SHUT UP!" Nami screeched at the three, her teeth getting pointy again. The three screamers came to a screeching halt, their mouths completely shut.

Okay, again, she's freaky. I don't want to get on her bad side.

"So, like I was trying to say before," Nami stated, looking back at the Snail Phone, "we've found out why Robin's with CP9, and we're out here trying to go after her, but things are a bit crazy. It's a long story."

"Well, you'd better tell it so you can go back and help. Those Franky Family idiots are going to need your help."

While Nami started to explain, the train car was shaken by another round of explosions. Tilestone's yelling about the cannon fire doing no good seemed to break through the walls of the car like they were nothing more than paper.

"Hey, Luffy."

I looked over at Zoro, who was looking up at the ceiling of the car. The white sword was sitting on one of his shoulders.

"Yeah, I know." Luffy was winding up his right arm as he walked over to the door at the front of the car. "That wave's asking for it." The two of them stepped out of the car and disappeared from sight.

"What are those two doing....?" I moved away from Nami and the Snail Phone, and over to a window nearby, throwing it open and sticking my head out. I couldn't see Zoro and Luffy from where I was, but I would at least be able to get an idea of what they were doing...if they managed to do anything.

I noticed at this point that the wave in front of us was _really_ close. Like, we were going to run into it in seconds close. But, for some reason, I didn't feel afraid. At all. I knew I was supposed to be, but...I wasn't. And that made this really _weird_ feeling in my gut.

"Gum Gum...

"Three Hundred Caliber...."

Luffy's and Zoro's voices were just barely coming through over the wind and rain. I was surprised that I could hear them.

There came a crescendo of noise that sounded like yelling, and moments later, there came a flash of light from the front of the train.

"CANNON!" Luffy and Zoro yelled together.

A beam of energy came from out of _nowhere_ and hit the part of the wave directly in front of us. My eyes were probably bugging out of my head when I saw the giant _hole_ in the wave that was left behind. What's even more incredible is that it was actually _staying_ a hole, and not collapsing under the weight of the water above it.

Zoro and Luffy are _ridiculously_ powerful! And they couldn't stand up to CP9 back in Iceberg's bedroom? Something must have been thrown off. There's no way that CP9 would have been able to survive an attack like _that._

The train went rocketing into the tunnel, and I had to pull back and slam the window shut because the tracks started going at all these crazy angles all over the place. I stayed leaning against the wall, gripping my staff like it was the one thing that was actually anchored in this crazy ride. Which it wasn't -- nothing was anchored on this train. But it made me feel a little better, anyway.

Well, that, and shutting my eyes for a good portion of it.

When I heard -- and felt -- the train hit the water, it took me a moment to get up from the floor and look out the window. It wasn't dark like the inside of the wave had been -- instead, there was water just below us and rain above us. We were out of the wave.

"TAKE THAT, AQUA LAGUNA!!!!" the Franky Family shouted at the tops of their lungs.

I let out a sigh of relief. "Looks like they did it," I commented.

"Hey, Nami, are you okay?"

I turned and looked back when I heard Sanji's voice come through the snail. The entire train car looked like a whirlwind had passed through -- Chopper, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit were out cold on the floor, there was food scattered all over the area, and Nami was collapsed on the floor with the snail lying nearby.

Nami got up and grabbed the snail. "Yeah, I'm fine. We just got through a rough patch, that's all."

"It would have been rougher if Luffy and Zoro hadn't gone out and done a combo move on the wave," I commented, coming over and sitting down near Nami. "Those two are so powerful, it's ridiculous."

The snail smirked as Sanji let out a short laugh. "If you think they're strong, just wait until you see me fighting. I'm gonna knock your socks off."

"I look forward to it."

Kokoro, who had somehow managed to sit upright through the whole ordeal, let out a cackle. "Man, you pirates sure know how to party!" she declared. "We're going to have to be careful, though -- we're not out of the storm just yet!"

"Well, we've got to be out of the bad part, right?" I responded.

Nami nodded in agreement, then looked back down at the snail. "So, as I was saying before I was so rudely interrupted, Sanji...."

I heard a window open up as Nami went back to talking, and I saw Luffy slide through the opening and down onto the floor next to Kokoro, grinning.

"That was a lot of fun!" Luffy declared.

I blinked. Fun? He refers to smashing a hole in a wave as _fun?_ I'd hate to see what happens when he _really_ gets into a fight!

Luffy suddenly went flying forward and hit the wall next to me. Where the pirate captain had been, Zoro was now hanging.

"Oops," the swordsman said with a straight face. "Sorry about that."

Just the way he said it...I couldn't help it. I burst out laughing. How in the world Zoro was able to say that with a straight face...it's unbelievable.

"Luffy, come here a sec!"

Luffy got up from the floor and looked over at Nami and me with a curious expression on his face. Zoro looked over at us, as well, while I recovered from my laughing fit.

Nami help up the snail to them. "Sanji wants to talk to you, Luffy."

Luffy took the snail from Nami's hand, grinning.

"That you, Luffy?" Sanji asked.

"Yup! It's me!" Luffy's grin got a little wider. "What's up? You save Robin yet?"

Luffy had been outside when Sanji had told Nami, so of course he wouldn't have known where Sanji was on the train or what he was up to.

"No, sorry...'fraid I'm still working on that one. Nami just told me why Robin surrendered and all of that stuff. So, yeah. I know what's going on."

"...I see." Luffy got down into a crouch as Chopper moved over, now recovered from our trip through the wave. "Well, that's good. Anyway, you know what's next." A strange smirk came across the pirate captain's face. "Go ahead. Give 'em hell, Sanji."

Nami and Chopper looked at Luffy in shock, while I just grinned.

"They deserve it after taking Robin like that," I noted. Luffy grinned at me in agreement.

"Hold on," Zoro spoke up. "He'll die if he goes against them now. He needs to wait until we can catch up to him." He leaned over and spoke at the snail. "Hey, Cook, can you hear me? Some of those guys are _really tough._ You shouldn't --"

"Zoro." Luffy cut the green-haired swordsman off. "It's fine."

The black-haired pirate paused for a moment, then said something else.

"If it were you, would you wait?"

Zoro looked over at Luffy with a look that clearly said he was annoyed. But his captain probably did have a point. I mean, if I had the chance to...and I had the strength and abilities that these guys had...I'd probably go ahead and try to take out as many as I could on my own to put at least _some_ kind of dent in the enemy's forces.

"If you were on that train instead of him and I told you that Robin had sacrificed herself to protect us...would you sit there and do nothing?"

Zoro eyed Luffy for a moment, then looked away.

"There's no use trying to stop him," Luffy added.

"Heh." The snail gave a wide grin. "Read me like a book. But thanks, Moss Head. I never knew you cared about me so much."

Zoro turned sharply to glare at the snail with so much intensity in his eyes that I could have sworn that the snail would have ended up getting cooked as a result. "I hope they kill you, Dartbrow!"

"Anyway, that settles it." The snail looked smug, but then it gained a serious expression. "I was willing to fight for Robin even before I knew the truth. And now that you've told me how she really feels...I wouldn't stop even if you begged me!"

The came the sound of something breaking on the other end, and the snail in Luffy's hand closed its eyes and relaxed. I guess Sanji hung up.

"I really hope he's okay," Nami murmured as Luffy gave the snail phone back to her.

"Knowing how strong you guys are, I have no doubt that he's gonna be fine," I replied, smiling hopefully. "He probably wouldn't have gone off on his own if he wasn't sure of his own strength, right?"

Nami gave me a surprised look. "Yeah. What made you think of something like that, though? Another memory coming back?"

"No." I frowned, then shrugged helplessly. "Intuition, I think."

"Hey, Granny!"

I turned my head to see Luffy confronting Kokoro.

"Hurry! Make the train go faster!" Luffy demanded.

"Faster?" the drunken woman repeated.

"Yeah. More like _fwoom!"_ Luffy stretched one of his arms out really quickly. "You know?" His arm came back with a bit of bounce to it.

"Oh, don't you worry," Kokoro replied, smiling a drunk smile. "This baby's already going _way_ faster than it was ever supposed to."

"Doesn't that mean it could break apart on us?" I asked, frowning. "The shipwrights have talked about stuff falling apart on ship crews because they were pushed too hard...."

Kokoro laughed. "Don't you worry about that, either. This train was built to take on anything -- including strain from being used. We're gonna be fine."

So the creators thought that far ahead? That's pretty good.

"In fact, we're going so fast now that we _can't_ be stopped!" Kokoro cackled.

"Then, what are we going to do when we catch up with the Puffing Tom?" I looked around the room at the others.

"I'm sure that Straw Hat with think of something," Kokoro replied, grinning.

Luffy didn't respond to that. It looked kinda like he was lost in thought instead.

Whatever -- or whoever -- he was thinking about, I'm pretty sure that it would end up connecting back up to what was going on with us...making it end up badly for the CP9 agents.

I can't wait to see what sorts of memories are going to be recovered as a result of all of this.


	16. Killing Time

"Let me know when you guys are decent, all right?" I asked, one hand over my face -- specifically, my eyes -- as I sat in a back corner of the train car.

When Nami had pulled the clothes out of nowhere and had started to nonchalantly strip herself -- and Luffy had started to drop his shorts -- I decided that it might be prudent to _not look. At all._

Especially considering that I didn't necessarily want to see if Luffy was wearing anything under those blue jean-short cut-offs of his.

"Kay! You can look now!"

I separated the fingers of my left hand by a crack so that I could look out. When I saw that everyone was actually wearing clothes and covering the appropriate parts, I let my left hand drop from my face so that I could see what Luffy, Nami, and apparently Zoro and Chopper were wearing.

Nami was the one who caught the attention first, simply because Paulie was standing there hunched over and shaking out of anger...while the other guys present were bent over double with _nosebleeds_ , of all things.

The orange-haired navigator had on a _really_ short skirt, left her stomach exposed, had on what looked like some sort of shirt that left a lot of cleavage exposed, and was wearing a long-sleeved jean jacket over that.

Oh, and she had this thin blue metal staff with what looked like it had these weird orbs added on in a couple places.

Nami blinked in confusion when she saw the shipwrights and Zambei (they had reentered the car after tearing through the wave) doubled over with hands to their noses. "Is there something wrong?"

"If there's something wrong, it's with _you_ , immoral girl!" Paulie bellowed, turning a fierce glare over to the orange-haired navigator. "What's with you, changing in front of men like that, huh?! Have you no shame?!"

"That's what _I_ want to know!" I piped up in agreement.

"Shame is overrated," Zambei, Lulu, and Tilestone said at once. I couldn't help but feel really disgusted when each one of them gave a thumbs-up and collapsed.

"Perverts," I muttered, gripping my staff in both hands. "If any one of you comes near me looking for something like that, then I'm gonna rip you a new one."

A girl has to have her privacy, you know. And I'd prefer it if other girls would also keep this in mind.

I sent a sour look in Nami's direction as this particular declaration came to my mind.

"What was I supposed to do?" Nami asked innocently. "The train only has one car."

"You could have politely asked all the men to turn around and have me bop anybody on the head if they tried," I suggested darkly. "I would have been more than happy to help."

"Cover up your legs and your stomach!" Paulie barked at Nami. Then he turned to look over at Kiwi and Mozu, who also happened to have on revealing outfits in yellow and red. "And that goes for you, too! People like you are corrupting society!"

"Whatever. You're just too shy." The twin in red with the less-revealing tank top and extremely short shorts pointed accusingly at Paulie, who stiffened.

"Yeah, shy boy," the twin with the yellow pants and revealing top agreed. She, too, pointed accusingly at Paulie.

I knew it was coming. That horrific temper of Paulie's. His face was already red with it. It just showed up even more when his cigar suddenly burnt itself down to a stub.

Paulie, his teeth having turned pointy, roared, "WHY YOU!!"

Kokoro let out a laugh. "If you fellas like, I could change too!"

"Please don't," the Nosebleed trio stated, bowing to the old woman.

What made her think of doing _that?_ It's bad enough that Nami did it without a second thought as to the reactions she'd get! And Kokoro wants to do it _on purpose?!_

"Stupid black shorts and their stupid tiny pockets...."

I turned my head when I heard Luffy muttering. His outfit hadn't really changed all that much -- the red button-up, sleeveless vest was still the same, and he still had that straw hat that had apparently become his moniker, but he had changed to a different pair of jean shorts that were black instead of blue...and they had pockets. Which he was attempting to stuff meat into.

Was that going to be a snack for right in the middle of his fight with Lucci or something?

"Come on...." Luffy grunted, still pushing down on the meat. "Get in there!"

I have to admit, it looked a little funny how much he was pushing down on it.

"Don't just stuff it in your pants, you idiot!" Nami barked at him.

"I'm starting to think you might actually pull this off," Kokoro commented, looking over at Luffy and the rest of us. I took this time to look over Zoro's and Chopper's change in outfits.

Chopper had pulled on a purplish leather jacket and had left it unzipped. I couldn't help but wonder how exactly that was going to react to his transformations, but considering that his purple pants and pink top hat had survived well enough, they were probably going to be fine.

Zoro has swapped his white shirt for what looked like a short-sleeved, yellow jacket which he, like Chopper, left unzipped. This left his chest bare, and....I couldn't help but notice the large scar that went from his left shoulder down to his right hip. He must have gotten it in a fight somewhere.

I wondered how deep the cut had been, and what -- or who -- exactly he had gotten it _from_.

"You all seem riled up, if nothing else," Kokoro added.

"You bet we are!" Luffy barked in reply, pausing in his quest to push the meat deeper into his pocket. "Those jerks got away with Robin last time, but this time, now that I know what's going on, they don't stand a chance!"

I blinked as I considered Luffy's statement. Was that really all it ever took in order to win in a fight like this?

_"Now that I know what Types I'm facing, it's going to be different the next time we fight!"_

Okay, that was definitely a memory voice, and it sounded kinda like mine, but...where was it connected to? I mean, "Type" sounds like those Pokemon creatures, but...what about everything else?

"...'cause if you get stuck in something again, you're gonna have hell to pay," Nami stated flatly as I brought myself back to the train.

"Nah, don't worry -- I have a reason to beat them this time around." Luffy turned to look directly at Nami. I couldn't see his expression from where I was sitting, but I could guess that the pirate teen was grinning. He seemed to be the kind of person to usually do that.

"Uh...right...." Nami didn't sound so sure about her captain.

"Hey, Nami." Zoro finally spoke up. "Did you change your weapon?"

"Huh? You mean it didn't look like that before?" I asked, looking over at the blue staff that Nami was holding.

"No, it didn't," Nami confirmed. She easily took the staff and took it apart into three smaller segments, each one with a bulb at one end. "This is called the Clima Tact. It lets me do things with the weather around me in the middle of a fight." Her face shifted, like she didn't want to talk about what was coming next, but she did anyway. "Usopp made it for me back in Alabasta when I asked him to make me a weapon that I could actually use. He added Dials to it from the Sky Islands and said that it was officially finished...before he left."

"Wow...Usopp made that? I knew he was good with a slingshot, but I didn't really peg him to be the inventing type." I was amazed, honestly. I didn't know that pirates could do so much!

Luffy looked amazed, but then his face darkened. "But...then that means...."

What happened next really threw me off guard. Captain, navigator, and doctor of the Straw Hat pirates suddenly went down in _tears._

"It's Usopp's last work," Luffy sniffled.

"Don't get all sad now!" Zoro barked at the three of them.

"Besides, he's still _alive_ , isn't he?" I asked, cocking my head.

"That's besides the point."

I looked over at Zoro, who had an irritated look on his face as he glared over at Luffy.

"Then what is that point?"

"The point is that he's not part of the crew anymore, so those inventions of his aren't exactly going to be of much use to us," the green-haired swordsman explained. "It's his last work _as a crew member_. Him leaving us makes him dead to us."

"Oh. Well...I guess that makes sense...." I frowned. "But...couldn't you still count him as a friend?"

"Do you not remember what happened last night?"

"Last--" Oh, yeah. I didn't realize that I had only known the Straw Hats for about a day, now. And when I met them...Usopp severed _all ties_ in a duel. That probably included ties in friendship.

Zoro must have seen the look appear on my face, because he gave a slight nod. "Exactly."

"Yeah...."

I _would_ have continued with a slight nod were it not for the fact that I was suddenly hit with a splitting headache. Bending over double, both my hands moved up to grip my head, causing my staff to disappear. I screwed my eyes shut and prepared to wait the thing out...only for the headache and the vision that accompanied it to be _surprisingly_ short.

The next moment, I was lying with my back on the floor, laughing my head off.

"Maria!" Nami exclaimed in alarm.

"Hey, kid, are you all right?" Paulie asked, moving over to me quickly.

"Y-yeah, I'm..." I gave an amused snort. "I'm fine. Just got a picture of what Sanji is doing with the...the 'dumbasses' he mentioned were with him. They've got an idea for what they're going to do on the train cars."

The vision was fuzzy, but the idea was good.

"What are they doing?" Chopper asked, cocking his head out of curiosity.

"It's...all Sanji's idea," I stated, grinning. "As soon as he got there, he took out everybody in the last two cars and rescued the two guys that were stuck in the second one. He's working with them now to disconnect the last two cars and anyone who might be on them, so that he can have an easier time with the ones coming along later. Certainly helps that the Marines from the car he has yet to get into decided to go back to the people he beat up."

"So he's thinning out their numbers without actually fighting anybody," Lulu noted, nodding. "Smart."

"Yeah, but that's not the best part." I snorted out of amusement again. "They decided to distract the Marines who moved into the beat up train cars...by pretending to be sitting on the platform of the last one just having a merry old time about it. One of them knocked on the door, then opened it. All three of them said...." I snickered. "They said 'Good evening!' and slammed the door right in their faces. The Marines had such a bad case of delayed reaction syndrome -- it was hilarious!"

"What happened next?" Luffy asked eagerly.

"One of them nailed the back door shut while another took out the pin that connected the two cars Sanji beat up to the rest of the train. By the time the Marines had broken through the back door, they were already disconnected!"

Luffy burst out into loud laughter while Chopper cheered. Nami simply smirked and shook her head while Zoro snorted and rolled his eyes.

"Well, that's _one_ way to avoid getting killed," Zoro muttered.

"Wait!" Tilestone practically yelled in my ear. "If they disconnected the cars, then we're going to end up running into them!"

"Tilestone's right," Paulie agreed. "What are we going to do when we run into them?"

Oh, yeah.

I blinked for a moment, then shrugged with a helpless look on my face. "It's just two cars, and most of the people on them were injured already. I doubt that any of them are fast healers or anything like that."

"You'd be surprised," Zoro commented dryly. He moved his right hand over to his white sword and pushed it out of its sheath a little. "But I've got an idea as to how to take care of them."

Boy, do I feel sorry for those fools who got between the Straw Hats and Robin.

"Hey, hold on."

I looked over at Nami, who was looking around the car in confusion.

"What is it?" I asked, curious.

"Where'd Luffy go?"

I frowned. "What do you mean, where'd Luffy go? He's right --" I turned to look over at where Luffy had been standing, but then I cut myself off. The Straw Hat captain had suddenly disappeared.

"He was here just a second ago," I noted, frowning. "Where could he have gone?"

"Beats me," Zoro commented, shrugging.

"Beats you?" An annoyed expression crossed Nami's face. "He could have fallen into the water!"

"I doubt that."

"But this is our _captain_ we're talking about!" Nami's annoyed expression changed to a panicked one. "He could have been thrown off or something!"

"Maybe he's stuck in Rocket Man's chimney," Chopper suggested slyly. "It could happen, right, Zoro?"

Zoro stiffened and gained an angry look. I swallowed nervously.

"Uh...Chopper, I wouldn't suggest pushing your luck," I commented. "Especially with the way Zoro's looking at you." I looked over at Nami and added, "He could have swung out onto the train so that he could let us know when the detached train cars from Puffing Tom get here."

I glanced around the train car and took note of what the others were doing -- either sitting or standing around, inspecting their weapons for the fight ahead, or drinking -- the last being the case of Kokoro.

It kinda felt like everybody was really tense, and it was making _me_ tense.

"Hey, Maria."

I jumped a little when I heard Paulie's voice, and I looked to my left at the shipwright. "Y-yeah?"

"How come you knew exactly what Sanji was doing?" Paulie eyed me with a suspicious expression.

Oh, boy. Looks like I have to explain the vision thing all over again. I was kinda hoping that I'd be able to get away with only telling the Straw Hats about it, if I was going to be traveling around with them in order to get my memories back....

"Uh, well...." I rubbed the back of my head. "It's kinda something that I'm still figuring out. Like with my staff." I motioned with my right hand, but I didn't summon the staff; just waving my hand around made enough of a point. "It's probably got something to do with my past, but I haven't really been able to figure it out too well yet."

I didn't really feel like I should be telling them this, considering Iceberg's warning, but...well, I trust these guys.

"Basically, when I get headaches during the day, it's either memories coming back, or visions of what's going on in other parts of the world," I explained, feeling a bit rushed as the words slipped from my mouth. "I kinda thought that, after I'd met the Straw Hats, the visions would stop, but...." I shrugged. "I guess they're still coming."

Paulie frowned, his eyes narrowing. "And you haven't eaten a Devil Fruit."

"No, definitely not." Paulie knew I hadn't -- he'd seen me swimming around in the canals by the docks, so that was more than proof enough. "I don't know where these abilities are coming from, though."

"Maybe you were born with it," Lulu suggested.

"If that were true, where would my parents have gotten it?" Another thought occurred to me as I spoke. "And who _are_ my parents?"

That thought hadn't really crossed my mind before. But the question of my birth had brought it up, and it made me wonder where exactly my home was. I couldn't help but get the feeling that my home was _really_ far away from here.

I caught a glimpse of a street covered in stone and two-story houses lined up and down it, but that quickly disappeared.

"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," Paulie commented gruffly. "What I'm wondering is what the hell you're doing here, when you sure as hell can't fight."

"Don't _remember_ how to fight," I corrected, annoyed. "I've got that staff for a reason, you know."

"Whatever. It's still going to be too dangerous for you."

For whatever reason, what Paulie said really riled me up. I could feel my body heating up a little bit, but not as much as it had when Nami mentioned what kind of place Enies Lobby was. I don't know _why_ I got really mad, or how what Paulie said got me mad. The shipwright was right -- it _was_ going to be dangerous at Enies Lobby.

"Like I'm just going to stand by," I growled. "I decided that I wanted to help, so I'm going to help. So I can't fight right now; so what? It's not like--"

I saw a flash of metal moving out of the corner of my eye, and I raised my right hand instinctively without so much as looking over in that direction. The staff appeared and stopped the sword short.

"It's not like I'm going to be completely defenseless," I stated, still glaring at Paulie. Now to figure out who had decided to try and lop my head off.

I looked over in the direction of where the sword had come from, only for my eyes to widen in surprise when I saw that Zoro was gripping the white handle of the sword that was now notched in my staff.

Wait...I managed to actually _stop_ that?

Zoro was smirking. He lifted his sword off my staff, commenting, "You've got good reflexes."

I blinked, still a little surprised that I had managed to stop the swordsman's attack in its tracks. "Uh...thanks."

"You've got a lot of strength, too," Zoro added. "I hadn't expected that from a scrawny kid like you."

" _Scrawny?"_ I bristled. "I'm not some twig!"

"Calm down, kid," Paulie muttered from behind me. "No need to get so worked up."

I normally _don't_ get worked up over stuff like that, though! Man, what was _up_ with me?

"S-sorry." My staff disappeared in a shower of sparks -- weird, it was doing the flashing thing before -- and I rubbed my left arm with my right hand nervously. "I guess I'm just nervous about what's coming up, that's all."

I felt _really_ weird. Like, I wanted to get up and do _something_ , but since I didn't know what, I was just sitting there fidgeting. Was I antsy about what was ahead of us? Or was it something else? Something about who I was _before_ I lost my memory?

"You need to let off some energy," Zoro noted.

"Maria's just nervous," Nami butted in quickly.

Nerves? Was that why I was so jumpy? No...something still felt wrong....

"Kid, you look like you're gonna to give yourself a heart attack," Paulie commented. I could see the smoke rising from the cigar he had in his mouth, replaced from when Kiwi and Mozu had jabbed at his temper. "What's eating you?"

"I don't know. I'm just getting all worked up for some reason." My legs started to bounce up and down, like my muscles were twitching. I didn't really feel like stopping them, either. My heart was racing, but not out of fear.

Was my body reacting to this up and coming battle...out of _excitement?_ Did I really get into fights _that_ often before?

"It isn't nerves," I managed, swallowing slightly. "I think my throat would be tightening up if it were that. I...I think that if I had my memories, I might actually be excited about this."

Nami stared at me like I was insane, as did most everybody else. Zoro had a guarded expression on his face, and he appeared to be almost thoughtful. It made me wonder if the swordsman actually _could_ think deeply about anything. I mean, he didn't look like the kind of guy who thought on a regular basis.

"A-and I'd probably have better control over how bouncy I got," I added quickly. I looked down at my twitching self and forced my body to still, but the twitching only went down a little.

I heard the sound of metal shifting, and my head shot up to see Zoro pull the white-handled sword out of its sheath again.

"Get up," the green-haired teen stated bluntly.

I suddenly started to feel wary. What exactly was Zoro planning on doing...?

"Sheesh, I'm not gonna cut you down." Zoro sounded annoyed. "Just get up and get your staff out here."

I blinked a couple times upon hearing that, but I shifted my feet underneath my and got up. My phoenix staff appeared quickly in my hands, like it felt my body's eagerness to fight.

"You're going to have to burn some of that energy," Zoro stated, holding his sword in front of him in both hands.

"...why are you pointing that thing at me?" I asked slowly, cautiously. I didn't exactly know where this was going.

"We're going to spar. What did you think I wanted you to do? Let me use you for target practice?" Zoro gave me a sinister smirk.

"Zoro, are you nuts?!" Nami yelped, coming between the two of us. "You're going to kill her!"

"Shut up," Zoro replied bluntly. "I'm using the back of the blade." He shifted his grip on the sword, and I saw the sharper edge turn inward -- towards Zoro. The back of the blade must mean the blunt side, then.

"You could still kill her with that!" Nami barked sharply in reply.

Is Zoro really that strong? I wanted to feel nervous, but my heartbeat just got faster. The strange mix of nervousness and excitement was starting to get me to feel queasy.

"She's going to be _fine_ ," Zoro replied impatiently. "She blocked my testing strike like it was nothing. I think Maria can handle a little spar."

"Please, Nami! Let me try!"

The words left my mouth before I could stop them. Not that I wanted to -- it's just that I didn't think they were _going_ to come out.

The orange-haired navigator gaped at me like I was nuts, then let out a groan and threw her hands in the air. "All right; fine. Have it on your head." She sent a pointed look in Zoro's direction. "But if you kill her, your debt's going up. And Sanji's going to kill you."

"I'm not going to kill her." Zoro's words came out through teeth clenched out of irritation. He sent a dark look after Nami as the orange-haired navigator moved out from between us.

I found myself rolling her eyes as I instinctively moved into a crouch, my red dragon staff gripped in both hands and held at an angle, my right hand closer to the head of the dragon.

Zoro's eyes flickered with a flash of approval before he lunged forward, swinging out with his sword.

I instinctively moved out with my staff to intercept the blow, catching his sword on the wood. I pushed the blade to move off in a different direction -- mainly _away_ from me -- then moved forward to whack Zoro in the side. Maybe I could get the sword out of his grip.

It didn't work. Zoro's got a vice grip on that sword of his, and me whacking into him wasn't about to loosen his hands up. He grunted from the impact my staff made, but didn't fall or stumble. Instead, he leaned to the side, then quickly regained his balance as he sliced in an upward direction, as though he was about to cut my arm off.

I somehow managed to move out of the way of the sword, and the thought occurred to me: Zoro probably wasn't fighting at full strength. There's no way that I'd have been able to knock him over like that if he was.

I guessed that I was going to be about ready to collapse by the time Zoro finally suggested we stop sparring, but I decided that I was going to push myself harder.

I wanted to get my memories back, and, more importantly, remember how to fight with the thick stick in my hands.


	17. Derailment

** Maria's POV **

"Hey, guys!"

I looked up from where I was sitting on the floor, blinking when I heard Luffy's voice from an open window on one side of the train car.

Zoro and I had stopped sparring some time ago, and I had promptly collapsed on the floor with my back to the wall at the back of the car, panting heavily from the exertion. At least I wasn't being jittery anymore, but the fact that Zoro hadn't even broken a sweat the whole time bothered me a little bit -- I mean, if I'm going to be able to fight with the others, then my endurance needs to go up or something.

"I see the train in front of us!" Luffy continued.

My eyes widened as the others looked up from what they had been doing before -- it seemed that Zambei and Lulu had gotten it into their heads that they could pretend to be Zoro and Luffy taking down the huge wave while Zoro and I had been sparring.

Zoro yelling at them had been the original reason that we had actually stopped hitting metal against wood in the first place.

"Doesn't he just mean the two cars that Sanji and the 'dumbasses' released?" Paulie asked, glancing over in my direction.

"That should be it, because it's too early for us to come into contact with the train," Kokoro commented.

"Well, we're going to have to do something, or else we're going to crash into it! Kokoro, put on the breaks!"

"Didn't you hear her before, Paulie?" I spoke up, frowning. "Rocket Man doesn't _have_ breaks."

"Oi, Zoro!" Luffy's head suddenly appeared back at the open window -- I was surprised to just see his head and nothing else. "You have to cut up the train cars. Now."

The green-haired swordsman grinned. "I was waiting for that order, captain." Zoro moved towards the square hatch at the front of the car and opened it up before climbing through, the door slamming shut behind him as Luffy pulled his head away from the open window.

"Cut up the train cars?" Paulie frowned. "How is he going to handle that?"

I got up to my feet, leaning against the wall. I didn't have my staff out with me at the moment because I didn't exactly see much of a point if I was tuckered out from sparring with Zoro. Besides, the others were more than capable of keeping anything dangerous off our backs.

"Only one way to find out," I commented, moving over to the open window. I stuck my upper body out into the rain and nearly lost my red and orange baseball cap because of a gust of wind, forcing me to plant a hand on top of my head in order to keep the hat on me.

I could just barely see Luffy and Zoro standing on top of the train. Luffy had moved back while Zoro was practically standing on Rocket Man's nose. The swordsman got into a crouch, moving two of his swords out across his front...without even pulling them out of their sheaths.

"The self forsaken in this world...I will cut. Two Sword Style...."

The two train cars were almost on top of us when a bright flash came out of nowhere...and cut the cars in half _cleanly._

"Rashomon."

"Whoa...." I watched as the shell-shocked Marines stared in shock at Zoro while the train cars fell to either side of the train tracks behind us, creating loud splashes and sending the men flying into the air as a result of the force.

"Zoro's incredible," I commented.

"Normally, captains are that strong."

I turned my head to look behind me, and I saw that Paulie had stuck his head out to watch what was going on, as well. I could hear faint noise inside as Lulu, Zambei, and Tilestone argued about who was pretending to be Zoro and who was pretending to be the train cars.

"Really?" I blinked in confusion. "But...Zoro's not the captain. Luffy is."

"Exactly. Makes you wonder how strong Luffy is when he gets into a fight." Paulie had a hard expression on his face.

"Well, Luffy and Zoro were able to knock a hole in --"

"I meant in a fight _alone._ " Paulie pulled himself back into the train so that he could yell at the arguing men who were acting like teenagers who had found their first hero to role model after.

That left me to think a little. If Zoro was able to cut two train cars _in two_...and he wasn't even the captain...just how strong _was_ Luffy?

"Hey!" Zoro's barking voice came across the sound of the roaring wind and rain. "It isn't over yet!"

I turned to look ahead again. "What do you mean, it isn't --" I cut myself off out of surprise when I caught sight of what was in front of us.

"What on the Grand Line is _that_ thing?!" I squeaked in alarm.

Footsteps scrambled in the train car behind me, and Paulie stuck his head out a window in front of me this time.

"That's a dragon Sea King!" Zambei's voice came from behind me. "Someone cut it in half!"

There came an excited noise from Luffy up on the front. "Meat! We should take some to Sanji and have him fry it!"

He sees a Sea King _that's been cut cleanly in half_ and doesn't even think of anything concerning _who_ might have done that?! Because I'm pretty sure that the move Zoro used didn't go anywhere beyond the train cars...and this beast is even bigger than the train! I had to crane my neck as we passed it in order to see up to the spines on the back of the sea monster.

"And these things live in the sea?" I asked, nervous.

"They aren't called Sea Kings for nothing," Zambei commented behind me. "Most of them live in the Calm Belts around the Grand Line, but there are quite a few that show up in the other seas and cause more than enough trouble for everybody."

Wow....

I got a quick flash of something at the back of my mind: a large, four-legged beast colored in blue and steel gray, standing far above my head and roaring. I got the feeling that I was slowing down for some reason.

The picture of the four-legged beast was replaced by...what looked like a giant wearing red and cobalt armor, but that soon disappeared.

"...I think I've seen bigger things," I remarked, blinking as my vision cleared up again.

"How?" Paulie gave me a looks of surprise, rotating so that he could look back at me. "There's nothing bigger than a Sea King."

"Try saying that again when you see a four-legged dragon monster named Dialga that can control time."

"Control time?"

I didn't answer Nami -- she was standing behind me, probably -- because my eyes had moved back to Zoro. He had pulled a bandanna out of nowhere and tied it onto his head -- I couldn't tell if it was green or black from where I was standing -- but something about how the swordsman was standing made me feel a bit uneasy.

It was almost like he was expecting an opponent to come in from out of nowhere.

"Hey! It looks like there's someone out there!"

I turned to look back at Zambei, who was messing with the only half of his goggles that actually looked like a lens of some sort. A moment later, he let out a gasp.

"It's the Ship Cutter!" the Franky Family member yelped.

I frowned. "Ship Cutter?" I turned and looked out at the sea again, straining my eyes in order to see who exactly it was that Zambei had seen. "Who's the Ship Cutter?"

"He's a Marine Captain -- Captain T-Bone!" Zambei sounded terrified. "I've only heard rumors about him...but that guy is _really_ strong! Guys, we need the cannons _now_ , or else Rocket Man's gonna be --"

"Wait!"

I looked up at the train in front of us, and I could see Luffy clearly, standing and looking back at us.

"Zoro can handle this guy!" Luffy called down at us. "Leave him alone!"

Zambei made a nervous noise, but he didn't say anything that contradicted Luffy's statement. I guessed that he didn't want to be on the business end of one of Straw Hat's fists.

"I'll only say this once!" Zoro's voice rocketed out through the wind and rain. "Get out of the way!"

I looked out at the sea ahead of us, and I finally caught sight of the guy that Zambei was so nervous about. He was only a faint figure on the horizon, though, so I couldn't really see what he looked like.

"I am a Captain in the Marines!" the voice that bellowed through the wind sounded old and shaky, and something told me that I did _not_ want to see the face that was on the other end of the voice. "I will not let you pass, so I will cut you in half!"

"Like hell you are!" Zoro drew one of his swords in a swift movement. "We need to get past you to reach our goal, so unless you move, I'm going to be the one who's going to be doing the cutting!"

I blinked in confusion for a moment when I saw Zoro move the sword up in a horizontal position. I realized a moment later that he was _putting a sword in his mouth._

"He's gonna use all three of his swords!" I exclaimed, remembering what the green-haired swordsman had told me back on the roof of the hotel in Water 7. "And he only used two against the train car...." I pulled back into the train car and looked over at Nami. "Does that mean he thinks this T-Bone guy is strong?"

"Probably." Nami looked somewhat bored. "Or else he could just be getting ready to show off."

I stuck my head back out the window again so that I could hear and see what the two were going to do next.

"Three Swords Style...Ox Demon." Zoro's voice seemed to carry a darker tone to it as he took his stance, all three swords out and pointing at the man standing on the railroad tracks. Then he suddenly _jumped_ off the front of he train and actually went _flying_ forward.

I couldn't believe my eyes. Zoro was somehow moving _faster_ than the train?!

As Zoro went flying, the guy on the railroad tracks threw out what looked like some sort of energy attack that took on the face of a bird as it went flying towards Zoro. But the swordsman cut through it -- and the next one -- like they were nothing!

"Courage Claw!"

All I could see was Zoro slashing forward, and the T-Bone gut flying off the rails.

"Whoa." My eyes were probably wide enough to pop out of my sockets. "Zoro took out the Ship Cutter guy like he was nothing."

Zambei let out a loud cheer, which was echoed by everyone inside the train car. I kept my eyes trained on Zoro as he jumped backwards back onto the ship and started climbing up onto the top, where Luffy was still standing with his arms folded across his chest.

Once I was sure that Zoro was safe, I pulled back inside to look at the dancing Zambei, Lulu, and Tilestone, who were chanting Zoro's name like it was part of some sort of victory dance.

I sighed and shook my head. "Boys...."

"You say that like you're used to it," Nami commented, coming over while Paulie stomped over to Lulu and Tilestone, a snarl on his face.

"I might be." I gained a thoughtful expression, going through the sheds of memory that I had. A flash of a teenage boy with brown hair and blue eyes came to mind, but that disappeared a moment later, and I wasn't able to catch a glimpse of who it was.

"I think I've interacted with a couple people who've acted like that, but I'm not exactly sure," I continued. "The furthest back I can remember is a world where animals can control the elements, but something tells me that wasn't where I lived at first. My life beyond that is really fuzzy, as is almost everything after that." A frown crossed my face. "And I'm getting the feeling that there's a _lot_ that I don't remember."

"Well, you're probably about eighteen or nineteen," Nami commented, "so I'd think there'd be quite a bit that you're missing."

"Yeah...I guess...."

It was at this point that Zoro climbed back in to the car with Luffy, looking wet and exhausted -- the swordsman especially. As soon as Zoro had gotten his feet on the wooden floor, he strode over to the wall in the back, sat down, put his hands behind his head...and fell asleep. Truly. He was _snoring._

"Those were the cars Sanji cut off," Luffy commented, grinning. He looked over at me and gave me a thumbs-up. "Thanks for the heads-up before! I would have thought we had caught up to the train by now if you hadn't had that mystery vision!"

Embarrassed at the praise Luffy was giving me, I rubbed the back of my head, a nervous smile crossing my face. "I-it was nothing. Really."

Luffy grinned at me. "I hope you'll join our crew!" He then went off to an open window and disappeared into the storm outside, leaving me standing there with something of a confused expression.

"He's not going to stop hounding you about it, you know."

I turned to look over at Nami, who had been joined by a very ecstatic Chopper, who was bouncing up and down on his feet.

"You joining the crew, I mean," Nami added.

"W-well...I'm going to be traveling around with you guys anyway, aren't I? So that I can get my memories back faster, I mean."

I wasn't exactly sure that I wanted to actually become a pirate yet. Sure, I was going to be going with them and having all kinds of adventures with them while I got my memory back, but....

"If you're traveling with us, the Marines are going to think you joined us," Chopper piped up, looking up at me. "If they see you working with us, they aren't going to think twice about trying to capture you because they think you're a pirate."

"Well, that's mean," I commented, frowning as I folded my arms across my chest.

"You have no idea," Nami replied dryly. "They probably would kill Vivi too if they heard she had a connection to us _and_ Baroque Works."

"Who?"

"Vivi's a princess!" Chopper piped up, smiling. "She was really fun to have on the crew!"

"And Baroque Works was an evil organization bent on destroying her kingdom," Nami added.

"Oh, yeah. Now I remember you guys telling me about that last night." A smile crossed my face. "Well, I'm glad you guys were able to help her out. I hope she's doing okay."

"Yeah...so do I...." Nami looked a little lost in thought as she thought back to her old friend.

My thoughts started to wander, too. I mean, if the Marines were going to have me pegged as a pirate if they saw me traveling with the Straw Hats...I wasn't going to be able to remain safe and without a bounty for long.

What was my forgotten family going to think when I finally remembered and found them? Were they going to laugh it off? Or would they react in anger? I couldn't remember anything at all about them at this point, so it was hard to say what was going to happen when I finally found them...or they found me.

Thinking about my choices brought me back to what Paulie had said before we had left on Rocket Man for Enies Lobby -- about how doing this meant declaring war on the World Government.

"I really don't have much of a choice, do I?" I asked aloud with a sigh, getting Nami and Chopper to look over at me again. "By helping you guys, I could end up getting myself put on the map as a wanted criminal -- just because I helped attack this Enies Lobby place. Especially if I'm going to be traveling around with you guys after all this." I motioned to the train car and the people inside it, as though that was more than enough proof.

"Does that mean you'll join our crew?" Chopper asked hopefully, smiling eagerly.

I shrugged. "I guess so." I looked around the train car, and seeing that Luffy wasn't inside it at the moment, I added, "But I want to be the one to tell him. It only seems right."

Nami and Chopper seemed to get the gist of what I was saying, because both of them nodded with knowing looks in their eyes. They probably had experience with this kinda thing, considering that they were on Luffy's crew. It made me wonder how Luffy had managed to get such a small group of powerful people together.

"Hey! Get out of the way!"

Speak of the pirate captain...what was he yelling at, though?

"Get out of the way?" I repeated, frowning. I moved over to the open window and stuck my head out in order to see what was going. My eyes widened in surprise when I saw what was sitting on the submerged train tracks in front of us.

"That's a _huge_ frog!" I yelped in alarm. "What's it doing on the train tracks?!"

"It's Yokazuma!" Chimney yelled from inside the train car. I pulled myself back into the car so that I could see what the others were going to do about the frog.

"You know it?" I asked, frowning.

"Know it?" Kokoro cackled. "Yokazuma has challenged the Puffing Tom every single day for the past eight years! He's caused us more than enough trouble!"

"Well, we're going to have to get him off the tracks, or else we're going to end up ramming into him and running him over!" I didn't know what "challenging the Puffing Tom" meant, and I don't think I wanted the same thing to happen to Rocket Man.

I could hear Luffy screaming outside, trying to get Yokazuma to move.

Before any of us could move, the entire train shook, sending those of us who were standing stumbling all over the place while the train suddenly jerked to the right.

Chopper especially had a hard time keeping his balance, because he went flying and slammed into Zoro's face, causing the sleeping swordsman to let out an angered yell as he slid a short distance along the wall. I held back a snort of laughter when Zoro tried to pull the reindeer off his face, only for Chopper to hold on even tighter.

"Chopper, you're going to have to let go!" I called out. "You're gonna cause Zoro to pass out if you keep doing that!"

"Oops!" Chopper quickly scrambled off Zoro's face, leaving the green-haired swordsman to gasp for breath. "Sorry, Zoro!"

Zoro shot Chopper an angered look, then turned a sour gaze to me. He might have said something it if wasn't for Luffy's loud yell from outside.

"DUMB FROG!"

"Gero!"

Was that the frog answering?

"DON'T 'GERO' ME, YOU BIG SLIMY JERK! DON'T YOU REALIZE THAT YOU JUST DERAILED OUR TRAIN?!"

Yup. That was the frog. Wait...

My eyes widened. "Did Luffy just say the train was _derailed?"_

"WHAT?!" came the unanimous response from most of the people in the train car.

Zoro snorted. "Well, isn't _that_ just great."

"WE WERE ABOUT TO CATCH UP WITH SANJI, TOO! NOW APOLOGIZE!!"

"GEROOOO!"

That frog sounds just about as mad as Luffy does," Nami commented, frowning. "But he's right. We have to go and find the tracks again, or else we'll never be able to catch up to them!"

"I'M GONNA EAT YOU!!!"

A moment later, there came the loud sound of a collision above us that shook the train cab. I wonder who had caused that -- Luffy getting hit, or the frog.

"I don't know what's going on out there, but it can't be good," Paulie commented, glancing forward and up at where the front of the train was. He glanced back at the back do the train car, and I followed his gaze. "Hey, are you guys all right?"

Practically everybody except for me, Zoro, Chopper, Nami, Kokoro, and Zambei had ended up slammed against the back of the train.

"Yeah, we're fine," spoke up the woman in yellow.

"Help...my back...." Lulu groaned.

Chimney and the meowing bunny flailed a little bit from where they had been squashed by Tilestone. I quickly moved over and started to help detangle everybody from each other so that the kid and her pet wouldn't end up getting squished to death.

Zambei quickly dashed to a window, yanked it open, and looked out. "Oh, no!"

"What is it?" Nami asked, frowning.

"Our King Bulls are gone!"

What? I scrambled over to a window myself and looked out. Sure enough, the boat the Franky Family had been using -- as well as the giant sea creatures -- were nowhere in sight. The only sign that had shown that they _had_ been there were the two large metal hooks that were still stuck in the back of the train car.

"Oh no!" Kiwi and Mozu exclaimed together. "They've disappeared!"

"It's more like _we_ were the ones who disappeared," Paulie commented gruffly, keeping a level head. "We were the ones who were derailed, remember?"

I nodded in agreement. "Yeah. No thanks to the frog that Luffy's fighting up there." I jabbed a thumb in the general direction of the train while another collision shook the car.

I wasn't even bothered anymore by the fact that I could be so calm about this. It kinda felt right, somehow. Maybe I was settling into how I used to act before I lost my memory?

"What are we gonna do now?!" Chopper asked, panicked.

"Well, there's nothing that we really _can_ do, since we've been blown off-course," Paulie commented.

Kiwi, Mozu, and Chopper all started screaming in panicked voices. I couldn't really make out what the three of them were saying, since they were speaking so quickly and right over each other. But then they stopped and stared at someone to my left. I turned and followed their gaze...only to catch sight of a particular teen sitting with his back to the wall and his hands behind his head.

"Zoro went _back_ to sleep?" I asked incredulously. "After all that?"

"At a time like this?" Paulie added, also shocked.

"That guy's one in a million!" Tilestone roared.

"Well, I'd better go an try to get us back on course." Kokoro moved towards the hatch at the front of the car. "I could use some help with directions, what with the weather and all."

"I'll help!" Nami dashed after Kokoro, Chimney and her pet scrambling after them.

"I hope they'll be able to get us back on track," I commented, rubbing my left arm with my right hand.

"Don't worry!" Chopper responded cheerily. "Nami's a great navigator! If anybody can get us anywhere, she definitely can!"

"Well, you know her better than I do, so I hope you're right."

Zambei decided he wanted some more concrete answers. He stuck his head out a window and started yelling up at where Kokoro and the others had gone. "Hey! Are we gonna be able to make it to Enies Lobby? If we aren't gonna make it, I'm gonna be really pissed off!"

"Shut up!" Kokoro called back. "I'm trying to work, just give me a second!"

Zambei pulled his head back in, looking a little befuddled after getting yelled at. I snorted in amusement upon seeing the look on his face.

"Oh, yeah! Yokazuma! Stop wrestling and get your slimy butt over here!"

"Gedo!"

The train shook a little as the frog kept calling out in what sounded like a happy tone.

"Sounds like she's going to take care of the frog," I noted cheerily. "Maybe he can help us get back on the tracks."

"You don't think it's weird that she's talking to it?" Chopper asked, cocking his head at me in surprise.

I blinked, thinking about what the reindeer had said for a moment. "Er, well...." A frown crossed my face. "I guess that reaction was kinda automatic, wasn't it? Which means I'm used to people being able to do that, probably." I looked over at Chopper with a curious expression. "Why? Should I think it's weird?"

Zoro suddenly let out a yawn and stretched his arms above his head before opening his eyes and looking around the train cab. "What are you guys lookin' at?"

"That old lady is talking to the frog," Zambei reported, back at the window again. "Do you think she could be part frog?"

"Is that kind of combination even possible?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Maybe she ate a Devil Fruit that made her part frog," Chopper suggested.

"Well, she never really _did_ quite pass for a human, now did she?" Lulu asked thoughtfully.

"You do realize you're going to get hit for that later, don't you?" the woman in yellow asked dryly.

"Yeah, no kidding," the woman in red agreed.

Sheesh, I really need to learn which one's Kiwi and which one's Mozu so that I can stop identifying them by the color of their clothes.

"I don't really think she's going to mind all that much," I commented, looking over at them. "I mean, she lets Luffy call her 'Monster Granny'. If she can handle that, I think she can handle a little gossip and put it down in her own way later."

Kiwi and Mozu looked at each other with doubtful expressions. Meanwhile, I moved to sit down a short distance away from Zoro, who eyed me for a moment before closing his eyes and putting his hands behind his head. He was asleep seconds later.

I decided to try and do the same, in order to build up whatever strength I needed for what was going to happen. In seconds, I was swimming in memories.


	18. Grouping Up

** Memory Break -- 3rd POV **

_ Maria's grip tightened on her red backpack strap as she looked up at the large stone building in front of her. It looked kind of like a castle, which didn't necessarily surprise the teen -- Pokemon League buildings were usually ornate like this, but none of the other regions seemed to have ornate carvings on their League Headquarters. _

_ Then again, Sinnoh had been a completely different ballpark, considering what had happened with the enemies and allies Maria had come across. _

_ "You certainly look excited," came a comment from the Pokemon next to her -- a jackal-like blue and black dog that was standing on his hind legs. His red eyes were eyeing Maria with a curious expression. _

_ Maria gave a nod. "Yeah. No matter what region I'm in, my heart races when I come up to the Pokemon League -- it's like this is where everything I've done so far has been leading up to this exact point." _

_ "Even defeating Team Galactic?" _

_ "Even defeating them, Luke." Maria grinned as she thought back to the events that had taken place on the mountain in the middle of the region, the golden trails of flying Mobians flashing through her mind. "We've been training a lot in order to get to this point. Let's make these next five fights count!" _

** Memory Break -- 1st POV **

"We found them! The giant yagaras! AHOY!"

I was jolted out of the memory when I heard Luffy's voice rocketing into the train car. I cracked open my left eye in order to see what was going on, a disgruntled look crossing my face. Really, couldn't Luffy had picked a _better_ time? I was really getting into it for a moment there!

Talking creatures and everything leading up to a final fight? It sounded a little like what was happening to me now! I wanted to see what was making me so excited back then!

Shoot.

"Hey, guys! Sanji's with them!"

That got me fully out of my grumpy mood. Sanji was with the Franky Family? Did that mean he'd managed to rescue Robin, too? I scrambled to my feet and dashed for the nearest open window and looked out towards what was ahead of us.

Sure enough, there was the Franky Family's ship and...was that _sunlight?_

There was a large break in the clouds and a lot of sunlight coming down over somewhere ahead of us. But...the sun had only just set before the attack on Galley-La before...and it didn't really feel like we'd been on the train for _that_ long.

"Hey, guys?" I pulled back in and looked at the others in the car. "Why is there a patch of sunlight up ahead?"

Paulie gave me an odd look, frowning. "Sunlight? It's still the middle of the --" A look of realization crossed his face, and his face shifted a moment later back into his usual gruff expression. "That's Enies Lobby up ahead. It's always sunny over there, even at night."

"Really? How can people get any sleep on an island like that?" I frowned. "How is the sun able to shine there at all during the night?"

The blond shipwright shrugged. "That's the Grand Line for ya, kid. The weather is whacky all over the place."

Really? Man, that's absolutely crazy....

_ ::Well, now that we've finally caught up with them, it's time for our date with the World Government!:: _ Nami declared over the speaker system.

_ ::Hell yeah, it is!:: _ Kokoro let out a loud laugh. It certainly sounded like she was enjoying herself.

Tilestone roared while the others gripped their weapons like they were ready to pull them out at any moment. I saw Zoro get up to his feet, smirking with a look on his face that clearly said he was dangerous.

"Now approaching Enies Lobby!" Zambei called out. "All hands, get ready for a showdown!"

I brought my staff out with a flash of light, a determined look crossing my face. Even if they did have Robin on the Franky Family ship, we might end up getting attacked by the people who took Robin in the first place. They _were_ going to want her back if Sanji had succeeded.

It didn't take too long for the Franky Family's ride to hook up with us again -- that was easy enough for their King Bulls to do, I think.

I was standing near Zoro with my staff in my right hand and my left hand just dangling at my side when the back door of the car opened and Sanji stepped in, fingering the cigarette in his mouth. He was followed closely by...

... _Usopp?_

I couldn't see his face too well, because he was wearing some kind of strange mask that was a bright yellow and looked like it had been designed off some kind of flower or something. The mask probably should have been worn by a girl, too, because it had lips carved onto it that looked like a woman wearing bright red lipstick.

But, ignoring the mask and the red cape, and everything else about the figure's appearance screamed Usopp -- including the bandaged long nose that was sticking out from the mask.

Luffy slipped into the car in order to greet Sanji...but ended up stopping short when he laid eyes on Usopp and his mask. Chopper scrambled over and stood next to him, and the both of them _stared_ at the long-nose.

"Greetings! My name is Sogeking, the Sniper King of Sniper Island!"

Okay, his voice came out _way_ deeper than I had expected it to, since I had met Usopp yesterday. But... _Sniper Island_? Really?

I glanced around the room and locked eyes with Sanji, who was lighting his cigarette. I gave him a curious frown, but the blond cook just rolled his visible eye and shook his head.

"Sniper King of Sniper Island?!" Luffy and Chopper repeated together, staring at Usopp. "For real?!"

Was it just me, or...were there stars in their eyes? I'm getting the feeling that I'm seeing things.

"That's right," Usopp replied. "I'm a close friend of Usopp's."

That's a lie. He _is_ Usopp. Why can't Luffy see it, though? Is he...really that much of an idiot?

"I'm here because he asked me to aid you on this perilous journey," Usopp added.

OK, so he wanted to help...even _after_ what had happened last night?

Usopp turned his head in my direction and paused while Luffy and Chopper talked back and forth with each other about what exactly made a "super hero".

"I don't believe we've met before," the masked long-nose commented. "As I have said, my name is Sogeking. Who might you be?"

Aw, what the hay? If he wants to play the masked hero, so be it.

"Maria," I replied. I let my staff go in a flash of sparks -- I think I was starting to get used to it doing that -- and held out my hand in order for "Sogeking" to shake it. A bandaged hand came out from underneath the red cape, and Sogeking shook my hand. He didn't have all that tight of a grip, but it wasn't loose enough that I could just slip my hand out of it easily, either.

"A pleasure." Sogeking released my hand. "Pray tell, how did you manage to make that staff of yours disappear? Is it invisible?"

"Nope." I shrugged. "It just comes and goes as I will it to."

"Fascinating."

"Hey."

I glanced back when Chopper trotted forward, holding a marker and a pad of paper in his hooves.

"Can I have your autograph?" Chopper asked hopefully.

"Sure." Sogeking took the items in his bandaged hands and started writing.

"I wonder though...where's Usopp?" Luffy asked, frowning.

"He's safe," Sogeking replied easily, not looking up from his scribbles. "He's not important right now though -- the most important thing is saving your friend Robin."

Oh, he's safe, all right. I can't wait to see what exactly is going to happen when he starts to fight with that mask of his, though. I mean, if he's pretending to be a super hero, then he's going to need to be able to hold his own.

Luffy gave a nod in agreement.

"So...where exactly _is_ Sniper Island?" Chopper asked eagerly.

Sokeking paused in the middle of his writing. "Uh...."

I gave Sogeking a curious look, wondering if Sniper Island actually _existed._

"It's in your heart," Sogeking stated quickly, giving Chopper back the pen and the pad. Then he turned and walked off, humming, "Oh the wind carries my name...."

"It's in...my heart?" Luffy blinked in befuddlement as he looked down at his chest. A grin appeared on his face, and he and Chopper actually started _singing along with Sogeking._

I decided to give the two fanboys some space with their brand-new super hero and moved over to stand next to Sanji and the others.

"What happened?" I asked, giving him a curious look.

"Just a sec." Sanji looked over at the singing trio. "The rest of you idiots should hear this too."

Luffy, Chopper, and Sogeking stopped singing and looked over at Sanji with a curiosity expression.

"Before we go to rescue Robin...there's something you need to know." Sanji let out a sigh. "When we tried to rescue her back there, she didn't want to come with us. In fact, she walked away from us even after Franky gave us a way to escape."

I blinked in surprise. Robin...didn't want to be rescued?

"Turns out they're holding this thing called a Buster Call over her head," Sanji added. "Ten battleships and five Vice Admirals. If she didn't listen to them, they would have called one out on us...like they did on her home twenty years ago. She was the only one who survived it, and she's been terrified of it ever since."

I looked over at Nami. "Didn't Iceberg mention something about that before? Back at the Galley-La building?"

Nami didn't answer, but her face had been darkened by a determined expression. I guessed that she was thinking the same thing.

"So there you have it," Sanji stated. "Those CP9 guys are controlling Robin by using her childhood fears against her. I'm not making any excuses for failing at saving her. I just want to make it clear that even if we march in to get her back, it doesn't necessarily mean that she'll want to return to us."

I rubbed my left arm absently, looking down at the floor. Robin...she was that dead-set on her goal? Even after everything that had happened to her when she had been with the crew?

"None of that matters!" Luffy roared, causing my head to shoot up in surprise upon hearing the anger in his voice. He and Chopper had their backs turned to us, but it seemed obvious enough to me that both of them were mad about what they had just heard. "I WON'T STAND FOR THIS!"

"YEAH!" Chopper shouted in agreement, thrusting his own arms up into the air.

"Damn Robin --"

_ BONK _ .

"It's not her fault!" Nami snapped at Luffy, just having hit the black-haired teen over the head with her Clima Tact.

"Of course it is, Nami!" Luffy replied, turning to look at his navigator. "Why doesn't she want us to rescue her? It doesn't make sense!"

"It's probably because of the threat of that Buster Call hanging over her head," I pointed out.

Nami looked over at me and nodded in agreement. "Exactly. She doesn't want to feel responsible for all the things that'll happen to our crew once we do."

"I don't care about all that!"

Nami and I looked at Luffy in surprise.

I blinked a couple times. He doesn't care about the whole Buster Call thing?

"If we don't rescue her, she's going to be killed, right?" Luffy continued. "There's no way she wants to die, so we're gonna save her."

"Of course she doesn't want to die, but --"

"Let it go," Zoro stated calmly, cutting Nami off as Luffy turned away from us to look at the back of the car again. "This doesn't change what we have to do. We'll save her either way."

"I'm gonna beat up every last one of 'em!" Luffy declared in a determined, angry tone, swinging his right arm around in a pinwheel motion. "There are a couple new moves that I wanna try."

I blinked. New moves? What did Luffy mean by that?

"Hey, guys -- take a look at this."

My attention moved to Paulie, who was sitting in one of the back corners with a piece of paper in his hands.

"I've gone to this island once before to do some maintenance on the railway," Paulie stated as we moved over towards him. Luffy and I were actually the first two to reach the blond shipwright.

"So, you got a good look at the island, then?" I guessed, sitting down on the floor in front of him.

"Right." Paulie placed the paper flat on the wooden floor as the others gathered around us. "I drew this rough sketch of the layout from what I could remember."

I looked down at the paper, and frowned as my eyes scanned it. It looked like there was some kind of fence that went almost all the way around the island, and four main buildings that stuck out tall above the rest of them. But....

What's with the dark spot around the main island?" I asked, tracing the dark blue on the paper that surrounded a portion of the island. "Does that mean deep water or something?"

"That represents the waterfall."

"Waterfall?" I frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

"Once we're inside, you'll see."

Paulie then launched into an explanation of the rest of the features of his map.

"The Gates of Justice are at the back of the island, right where the 'X' is." Paulie tapped the X at one end of the paper, which was the bottom from my point of view, but the top from the shipwright's. "Now, the only way to get to them is through the Tower of Law."

"Which I'm guessing is this building here." I tapped the one closest to the X that Paulie had pointed out.

"Right. If we don't rescue Franky and Nico Robin before they pass through the main gate and into the Gates of Justice..." Paulie traced a finger up through the three other large buildings and stopped at the Tower of Law. "...that's it. It's over."

"So what?" Luffy looked up at Paulie. "It doesn't matter where they take her to, we'll just keep following and fighting them until we get Robin back!"

"Weren't you listening to me back in Water 7?" Nami asked from behind me, annoyed. "After we pass through the Gates of Justice at Enies Lobby, the only two places we can go are Navy Headquarters and the deep sea prison, Impel Down."

"So we can't just keep following them," I stated as I looked back, getting a nod from the navigator. "Does that mean we have to get Robin back _before_ she reaches the Gates of Justice?"

"Yep, that's about right." Paulie's response got me to look back at him again. "On top of that, the only people who would be able to go after those CP9 guys are you Straw Hats." The blond shipwright made it a point to look at Luffy, Zoro, Nami, Chopper, Sogeking, and Sanji as he said this. "Now, you Straw Hats -- after seeing what you can do, I know how strong you are. That's why I think you should stay behind once we get there."

"Huh?" I blinked a couple times, then frowned. "Why not have our strongest fighters lead in ahead of everybody else?"

Paulie gave me an annoyed glare, then went right on explaining.

"Give us five minutes, then rush in through the main gates with Rocket Man. We'll help the Franky Family break open the front gates and cause a ruckus so that you can actually get in there without getting bogged down by Marines or government agents."

I frowned, then cocked my head to one side as Paulie's words sunk in. "So...you're basically making sure they have a shot at getting in at Robin sooner rather than later, then."

"Now you're gettin' it, kid." Paulie nodded in approval.

"I'm sure we'll suffer a lot of casualties," Zambei added from behind us, "but once you get in there, don't look back. We've only got a little over sixty people. The enemy's probably got somewhere between two and three thousand."

I made a nervous humming noise. "I don't like the sound of those odds...."

"We'll be able to handle 'em," Zambei contradicted my gloomy thoughts with a confident tone in his voice. "Our best chance is for you Straw Hats to go after CP9 and leave everybody else to us."

Luffy nodded, a determined look coming over his face. "All right. Got it."

_ ::All right, folks:: _

I jumped a little when Kokoro's voice came over the speaker system from behind us. I turned to look back as the others turned as well.

_ ::We're pulling up to the front of the island. While we're here, take a look at the sky behind Enies Lobby:: _

"The sky...?" A frown crossed my face, and, curious, I got up to my feet and poked my head out a window.

Well, ahead of us was the island, all right. I could see one of the main structures that Paulie had drawn right in front of us -- that was probably the main gate. Which meant that the tall building behind it was another one of the buildings he had drawn...but behind that....

My eyes widened when I saw the strange, black circles connected together in the form of a cross behind the taller building. "What in the world is _that_?"

_ ::Behold the Gates of Justice!:: _

I craned my neck back to look at the entire thing...and I saw that the black circle-cross thing was actually _on top of_ this giant curved thing that almost looked circular.

"How can something that big actually exist?" I yelped, eyes wide in alarm. "Do they even _need_ something that big?"

I stumbled back from the window, shocked at the size of the Gates of Justice.

_ ::It's never a good idea to open them all the way::  _ Kokoro continued. _::When it comes time to send a criminal through, they only open up the latch enough to let them pass. Behind that door is a whole bunch of Sea Kings, since that part of the sea is a lot like the Calm Belt::_

"Calm Belt?" I frowned. "What kind of sea is that?"

"A sea that's like glass," Nami explained. "There isn't any current _or_ any wind, which makes it the perfect nesting place for those sea monsters that we call Sea Kings."

Oh. "That's a bad place for sailors to be, then."

"Yeah."

_ ::The Navy somehow figured out a way that they could pass through safely. The pirate girl's right -- there's going to be no chance of a rescue if we follow them through the Gates of Justice. So any chance at a rescue we have has to be before they open! Go -- there's no time to loose!" _

Zambei, Kiwi, Mozu, Paulie, Lulu, and Tilestone ran for the open door at the back of the train car.

"We'll cut open a path for you, just like we planned," Zambei stated, nodding to the rest of us in the car. "Give 'em hell, Straw Hats!"

"Hey, wait." Zoro raised an arm and pointed at two figures standing with the group -- Nami and Sogeking. What were they doing over there?

"You two are supposed to be with us," the green-haired swordsman added. "So get over here." He glanced over at me. "And what are you gonna do?"

"Me?" I squeaked in surprise upon being asked the question. I hadn't really thought about...oh, wait.

"Well, I figured that, since I finally decided to take up Luffy's offer of joining the crew, I'd go with you guys," I stated as confidently as I could while Nami and Sogeking walked back over to where we were standing.

Sogeking stopped short and turned his head sharply to look in my direction. I couldn't tell what sort of emotion was running through his head right at that point because the mask was covering his face, but considering how fast he moved...he probably wasn't expecting that.

As for Luffy....wait.

"Hey, where's Luffy?" Chopper and I asked at once. The two of us looked at each other, blinking in surprise upon hearing that the two of us had been wondering the exact same thing.

"He was here a second ago," Nami commented, frowning as she motioned to the car.

Zoro frowned, then a look of realization crossed his face and looked over at Sogeking, the two of them making a noise that sounded like someone was swallowing nervously. They instantly scrambled for the windows and threw two of them open before looking out.

"There he is!" Zoro called out.

I glanced over in the direction they were looking and caught sight of Luffy's bright red vest; the pirate captain was clinging to one of the iron spikes on the fence that was surrounding the island.

"Why the hell did he go in on his own?!" Paulie demanded, glaring out the windows.

"That crazy Straw Hat didn't understand the plan at all!" Zambei added.

Nami let out a sigh and collapsed onto her knees. "There goes our strategy...."

"He said 'I got it,' didn't he?" I asked, frowning.

"Yeah, he did." Sanji took the cigarette out of his mouth and released a puff of smoke.

"He's not really the brightest bulb, is he?" Sogeking asked in a not-so-deep-and-sounding-more-like-Usopp voice.

"Damn, should've known," Zoro muttered. He looked over in my direction. "Looks like you're going to have to wait to tell our captain that you accepted his decision to join the crew."

I frowned and cocked my head to one side out of confusion. "He gave me a choice though, didn't he? So why did you call it _his_ decision?"

"Choices like that mean nothing to him so long as he can get the person he's asking to agree with him at the end of it," the swordsman replied with a shrug. "He'll insist on holding a party after all this is done, probably, so you can probably tell him then."

"...Well, if that's the only time I'll be able to talk to him now, then...I guess so."

"Sodom! Gomorrah! Jump over that iron fence so that we can break open the main gate!"

I turned my head upon hearing Zambei's voice, frowning when I heard the names he was using. When I didn't see any actual people really running around and the two King Bulls -- one a bright yellow and the other purple with zebra stripes -- backing away from the train and starting to go towards the fence and the island, I let out a growl of annoyance as a bit of knowledge slipped into the back of my head.

"Really? Naming their two giant sea pets after two cities that were annihilated a few thousand years ago?" I shook my head. "They could have chosen better names."

"Are you a history buff like Robin?" Nami asked me, getting my attention with her curious question.

I blinked for a moment, frowning, then when nothing came to mind, I shrugged. "I don't really know at this point. Maybe I am, maybe I'm not. I can't really remember too well at this point to say for sure."

Anything else that might have been said was cut off by the sound of gunfire coming in through the open windows.

"Sounds like Luffy's run into some trouble over there, " Zoro noted dryly, glancing over at the windows. "He shouldn't have too much of a problem, though."

I frowned. "A moment ago, you sounded kinda worried there."

"Because it sounded like that idiot had actually listened to the plan this time but it turns out that he hadn't!" Nami replied, clenching her teeth in annoyance.

I blinked. "So...does that mean Luffy does this pretty often?"

"Every time there's a plan....." Sanji sighed and shook his head. "We should be getting used to it, but...."

Huh.

"Well, it could work out for our favor." I folded my arms across my chest in thought. "You never know, right?"

"Especially with Luffy," Zoro intoned, nodding in agreement.


	19. Last-Minute Preparations

**Maria's POV**

_::All right, guys. Ya ready to roll?::_

I glanced up and over at the speaker at the front of the train car, pausing in my experimental twirling of my staff. It had felt good to do at least _something_ while waiting for the Franky Family and Paulie to get at the main gates and open them up, and I figured that it might be a good thing to use in order to deflect bullets or something.

"Aren't you hurt?" Zoro's voice caused me to glance over in his direction, and I saw that the green-haired swordsman was looking over at Sogeking.

"Don't worry, these wounds matter not." Sogeking bent forward a little, but then regained his previous position of standing tall with his arms crossed over his chest. "I'm fine."

Chopper looked up at the disguised Usopp with stars in his eyes. "So cool...."

Okay...I'm really starting to freak myself out here. Is it normal to be able to see stuff like that? Or is it just because of something from my past?

 _::We've got four minutes until Rocket Man's gonna tear through and get you guys onto the island::_ Kokoro added.

"Which is going to feel like an eternity," I grumbled under my breath. I gripped my staff and started to experiment with the moves I could actually use with it -- mostly slashing at the air and twirling the phoenix-headed staff. When the wings of the carved phoenix hit against the bill of my red and orange baseball cap multiple times, I paused and turned it around so that the bill was at the back of my head.

"And you're absolutely sure that you didn't eat a Devil Fruit," Sanji stated, eyeing me as I twirled my staff.

I stopped twirling again and looked over at the cook. "Positive. This and the vision thing have to be coming from somewhere else, because I can still swim just fine."

Sogeking's head turned and he looked over in my direction upon hearing me say that.

"You tell anybody else that, and you're probably going to be laughed at." Sanji pulled the cigarette out of his mouth and released a puff of smoke before putting the cigarette back in. "I'd suggest pretending that you _did_ eat a Devil Fruit for now."

I blinked in surprise. "Pretend...? How?"

"Well, for one thing, if the Marines ever end up catching you, they're probably going to think you've eaten one already and put you in a cage lined with Sea Stone," Nami piped up, looking up from inspecting her Clima Tact. "Since Devil Fruit users can't come into contact with the sea without losing their strength of abilities, the Marines discovered a stone that seems to be the sea in solid form. They line all their prison cells with it so that Devil Fruit users can't escape."

"Sea Stone....?" I frowned. "How can you tell if there's Sea Stone in the area?"

"Usually, through Luffy's stupidity," Sanji commented with a wry smirk, which disappeared after a moment. "Sea Stone usually has this greenish color, though, so that's something you could look out for."

"Really? Thanks for the tip, Sanji."

"Anytime, Maria-san!" Sanji got the heart-for-an-eye again as he practically _swooned_.

"Maybe you should pretend that you can't swim, either," Sogeking spoke up.

I shot a frowning look over at him, and the masked Usopp continued quickly.

"At least, not when you're in a situation like this. The Marines aren't going to expect you to be able to do anything once you hit the water, so when you go under, they'll leave you alone. You could still swim when you're not being watched by them, though."

"That may be, but I don't exactly want to drown on purpose," I commented, folding my arms across my chest. Gripping my staff in my right hand made it a little bit difficult, but I managed to get it to work.

"Then hold your breath."

There suddenly came a loud explosion of noise from the island, and I turned my head and looked out a window. A grin crossed my face. "Hey guys, look -- the main gate's open!"

The others turned their heads and looked our the window.

"Looks like it," Zoro commented, a smirk crossing his face. "Those Franky Family guys aren't half bad."

"Considering what their boss is like," Sanji muttered.

"And what they did before," Nami muttered, a scowl crossing her face.

Chopper nodded in agreement, then looked up at Sogeking. "You could have come to help Usopp then! Then he wouldn't have to have been so beat up!"

Sogeking jumped a little. "Uh...er...sorry. I was...called away on another important mission. I knew Usopp was with you, so I thought he was safe."

Chopper's eyes widened. "Oh, really? Where were you?"

"Well...."

While Sogeking launched into some elaborate explanation about why he wasn't where Usopp was (even though he and Usopp are the same person), I noticed some movement out of the corner of my eye and turned my head, only to see Zoro disappear through the front door of the cab. Why was he going outside?

 _::Two minutes to go::_ Kokoro reported.

Oi, this waiting was really starting to kill me. I stopped twirling my staff and looked out the windows at Enies Lobby. The gates were wide open, waiting for Rocket Man to come rocketing through so that the rest of us could join in and move forward to get Robin back.

"You do realize we're going to have to come up with a name for the Devil Fruit Maria supposedly ate, right?" Nami suddenly spoke up.

I looked over at the navigator. "A name...? Do we really need one, what with me being forced to act like I have one?" I frowned.

"There are people who are going to ask," Nami replied. "I'm sure Luffy would tell everybody in a million miles if anyone asked about his power." An annoyed look crossed the orange-haired girl's face.

"Either that or he'd scare the crap out of them," Sanji noted dryly, taking another puff from his cigarette.

"And he does that pretty often," I guessed.

"He did it to us when we first ran into him," Nami stated. "I wouldn't be surprised if he does it to everybody else he wants to join his crew."

"And how many is that going to be?"

"I don't know. Nobody really does." Nami shrugged, then looked down at her Clima Tact, which she had in three separate segments. "By the way, Sogeking...."

Sogeking didn't look over at the navigator, causing Nami to suddenly ram one of the segments of her metal blue staff into his back.

"Ouch!" Sogeking turned around sharply; I could imagine that he was glaring at her from under his mask. "That hurt!"

I blinked a couple times when I heard Usopp's regular voice. It made me wonder how hard it was to actually make his voice a few octaves deeper than it actually was.

"You think you could teach me how to use the cold air feature on this thing?" Nami asked, holding up the staff segments in her hands.

"You're not going to apologize for hitting him like that?" I asked, raising an eyebrow. Neither Nami or Sogeking so much as looked in my direction when I said that.

"Well, sure! It's simple -- I-I mean--"

Sogeking cut himself off and turned around with a rather over-exaggerated furling of his cape, folding his arms across his chest as he did.

"Why are you asking me?" Sogeking asked, his voice changing again.

I rolled my eyes. If he was going to pretend to be one person and not the other, he wasn't doing a very good job of it.

Nami sent an annoyed glare at Sogeking's back. I couldn't help but wonder if she was planning something to get back at the masked long-nose.

"I hate waiting...." Chopper murmured quietly. "I hope everyone's okay...."

"You and me both," I agreed softly, looking down at the reindeer.

"All we can do is be patient," Sanji spoke up from where he was near Nami. "Even if Luffy jumped the gun, we're gonna sit tight and stick to the plan."

I heard a tapping noise, and I looked down to see that one of Sanji's feet was tapping impatiently. I got a minor headache, followed by a quick blast of a creature that looked like some kind of...I dunno, a blue porcupine or something that was standing like a human.

 _"I'm waaaaiting....."_ The whiny voice was shortly followed by a blast of wind so fast that I probably would have been knocked over if it wasn't just a memory.

Man, that blue creature was _really_ impatient. And really fast.

**Spacial Break -- change in POV (???)**

Spandam's yammering and voice were really starting to get on her nerves. True, this was only the first time that she had met the man, but she could tell that he was one of those kinds of people who was attempting to overcompensate for his weak form by attempting to sound smarter than everybody else.

Of course, he didn't exactly know that she was thinking that because she hadn't revealed herself yet to the leader of CP9 and the three who were in the room with him.

"Chief! Lucci's party has just arrived!"

Spandam stopped yelling at the three agents in front of him, a grin coming over his face that looked strangely maniacal behind the metal plating he was wearing to keep his skull from moving around too much. "Ah, perfect! Send them in!"

The large, ornate doors near where the silent figure was standing opened, and four figures stepped into the room. One of them was wearing what looked like some sort of green coat with fluffy inner lining poking out around the edges, but he didn't have his arms in the sleeves.

"Ah, Lucci! Blueno! Kaku! Kalifa! It's good to see you again!" Spandam grinned, delighted at seeing the four figures standing before him.

"That's sexual harassment," the woman stated, adjusting her glasses.

"But I just said your name!"

Spandam's face shifted to one of surprise while the silent figure rolled her eyes in the background. The figure was more interested in the new figures who had arrived rather than the man who they called "Chief." She could already see that these four were more dangerous to the wrong kind of people.

And she approved of these specific kinds of people.

The man with the green coat and the top hat on his dark curls turned his head, and his eyes narrowed slightly. "It seems we have an intruder."

"Eh?" Spandam was confused. "What do you mean?"

A wry smirk snuck its way across the silent figure's face, and she stepped out of the shadows and into the lines of vision of the CP9 agents and their...chief.

"I'm not surprised that you were able to detect me so quickly, unlike the man who claims to be your boss," the strange girl stated coolly, hands stuck in the pockets of her purple jacket.

Spandam stiffened. "Why you little --"

"Shut up." The girl wasted no time in expressing her annoyance at the man. "Your voice annoys me." She looked back at the man who had managed to spot her. "Your name is Lucci, correct?"

The man's eyes narrowed. "Who are you?"

"Who am I?" The girl's dark purple eyes sparked with a cold sort of amusement. "Just a traveler of sorts, here to settle some loose ends. Other than that, you don't need to know."

"Don't I, now?" Lucci strode over to the girl with a fluid, but also stiff, air about him that clearly said he was more than ready to attack or defend himself at any moment. "Then why is it that you look like the girl who had taken up residence at Water 7's docks?"

Well, this was certainly an odd development.

"That is for me alone to know," the girl replied calmly. "Is there any particular reason you are referring to her in the past tense?"

"I find it highly likely that she is dead by now, seeing as we killed Iceberg in the same room that she was in."

The left purple eye closed as the girl gave Lucci a curious look, dark locks of her own hair falling over the left side of her face as she cocked her head a small amount.

After a moment, she stated, "You're wrong. She's alive, and she's here." The left purple eye opened again, and the girl looked up at Lucci with almost a half-asleep expression. "Maria isn't someone you can kill so easily." Her eyes sharpened, and a rather dangerous grin appeared on the girl's face. "After all, she and I may as well be twin sisters."

"Who are you?" Spandam demanded, glaring at the girl. It seemed he had finally regained his voice after the girl's previous demand that he shut up. "And who exactly is this Maria? Tell me!"

The purple-eyed girl hummed, considering the purple-haired man's statement.

"I will tell you...." the girl began, "...if you do not interfere with what I plan to do."

**Spacial Break -- Maria's POV**

_::Are you ready, ladies and gents?::_

I looked up sharply upon hearing Kokoro's voice. I had been right in the middle of thinking about the weird-looking blue creature -- which my memories had only just revealed to me was a "hedgehog" -- when the old woman's voice had brought me back to the present...as well as the fight that we were about to get into.

_::The time has finally arrived! If they don't have those gates open by now, it ain't gonna happen. I'm gonna need you to take out that iron fence, okay, Samurai Man?::_

Zoro...a samurai?

I blinked a couple times as the thought kinda settled into my head, then I shook it out. Nah, Zoro didn't really look the part of a samurai. Didn't they usually wear armor or something like that?

The train started to shift a little under my feet, and I watched as Enies Lobby moved away from the windows. My grip on my staff tightened.

"No turning back," I muttered.

"Second thoughts?"

I looked over upon hearing Sogeking's voice, blinking a couple times upon hearing the question. "Second thoughts?" I repeated.

"About coming," Sogeking prompted.

I blinked again, but when nothing really came to mind, I shook my head. "No. I came because what the government is doing is wrong. Stopping a woman who wants to learn more about history isn't the right reason to stop her. History is something that we can learn from. To forget mistakes is to be ignorant of their consequences on the world around us, so why hide the truth if it makes the world do the same thing all over again?"

Okay, I don't know where that came from, but it sounds _really_ familiar.

"Okay, if that doesn't make you sound like a history buff, I don't know what does," Nami commented, putting her hands on her hips as she looked over at me.

I looked over at the navigator. "Well, it doesn't exactly help me now because I lost my memory, so...." I gave a sheepish smile and shrugged.

_::It seems we have to switch up our plans a little bit. Your green-haired samurai friend says you should all find something to hold onto!::_

I looked up at the speaker. "Something to hold onto....?" I gripped my staff with both hands, holding on right enough to make my knuckles turn white.

"But why?" Chopper asked, frowning.

Sanji turned around and stuck his head out a window. "Hey! Moss-for-Brains! What's going on out here?"

"Moss-for-Brains?" I repeated, raising an eyebrow.

"It's always the hair and the eyebrows...." Nami sighed, shaking her head.

"They, uh...they closed the main gate." Zoro's voice was barely hearable over the wind whipping past us.

"They _what_?!" Sanji yelled.

Sogeking let out a yell, slamming into the back of the train car. "This is bad, this is very bad!"

"What are we gonna do?!" Chopper yelled.

"We're gonna crash!" Nami screamed.

I stared at the three of them in bewilderment. "You guys act like this, even with a guy like Zoro on your crew? He's probably got something in mind for taking care of the gate...doesn't he?"

"Hey, frog!" Zoro's voice came through the wind again. "See fence? Smash!"

"Huh?!" came the unison reaction from the trio.

"He could be saving his strength to cut the gate apart," I suggested.

Meanwhile, Zoro yelling "Smash" was causing something green, hulking, and angry to appear at the back of my mind, roaring angrily before disappearing. What on the Grand Line _was_ that?

Yokazuma started chanting, getting louder with each noise he made, right up until the point that he let out an especially loud "GEDDO!!!," and I heard what sounded like metal bending right before the resounding screech of metal on metal from somewhere below us.

Moments later, the train was suddenly moving at an upward angle, sending all of us flying all over the place.

"Oh no!" Sogeking wailed from where he was holding on at the front of the car. "We're gonna die!!"

Usopp was a part of the Straw Hat crew before...was he always like this when he was with them? Because he's yelling in his own voice and not Sogeking's deeper octaves.

"What?" Chopper looked terrified as he held onto the hero's leg. "But I don't wanna die!"

Nami kept up a continuous shrieking while Sanji tried to catch her in his arms, his one visible eye clearly going into a lovestruck state.

I, meanwhile, had ended up getting slammed into the back of the train car -- right next to one of the giant metal hooks. I was lucky that I didn't end up getting impaled by it completely by accident.

"ZORO!" Nami yelled as she managed to work her way over to a window. "YOU BETTER HAVE THOUGHT LONG AND HARD ABOUT HOW TO LAND THIS THING!!!"

"Of course I have!" Zoro barked back as I made my way over to the window that Nami was at. Now that the train was level -- even though it was in the air -- I could move around without worrying about getting pulled back.

"How?" I asked, frowning. "It's not like the train has landing gear, does it?" I looked over at Sanji, who simply shrugged.

"We fall," Zoro stated simply.

The swordsman's statement brought out a rather panicked "Geddo!" from Yokazuma...and Nami, Sogeking, and Chopper started panicking again.

To be honest, I'm not quite sure why I wasn't. I just gritted my teeth and braced myself against the side of the car instead of yelling at Zoro for his bad planning skills.

"Something tells me our landing's gonna be bumpy," I muttered.


	20. Enies Lobby is All Bark and No Bite

**Maria's POV**

"Bumpy" didn't even cover our landing.

I let out a yell of surprise as the train slammed into something suddenly, sending me skidding forward into the wall at the front of the train car. The car bounced up and down a few times, sending me onto my rear end and skidding across the floor before we finally came to a stop.

"Whoa!" Zambei's voice called out from somewhere nearby. "Rocket Man fell from the sky!"

"We opened the gates for nothing?!" called out a number of others.

I started to climb to my feet, using my red phoenix staff in order to keep my balance. It kinda felt like my legs were made of jelly or something, and the train car kinda felt like it was at a weird angle.

"Is everybody else all right?" I asked, looking around.

Sanji let out a growl as he and Sogeking detangled themselves from each other. "I'm gonna kill that bastard for that."

"Get in line," Nami growled back as she and Chopper got to their own feet. "Come on; there's no way that we'll be able to get through without getting noticed now."

"Meaning we've gotta fight, right?" I shifted my grip on my staff. My heart was racing, like my entire body wanted to get out there and smash some heads.

"Yeah." Chopper gave a grim nod. He looked around at the rest of us. "So...who's gonna go out first?"

Sanji glanced at the smoke coming off the train and rolling into the car. A dark frown came over his face, and he quickly moved over to a nearby open window and slipped out.

Say, that actually wasn't a bad idea.

I moved over after Sanji and slipped out the window myself...just in time to watch Sanji get into a handstand and send his feet flying into multiple opponents, while Zoro took quite a few out with his swords.

"Get the girl!"

I turned my head sharply as a guy wearing a white and blue uniform and a hat that said "Marine" across the top came charging at me, brandishing his sword like he was planning on stabbing me.

I pushed the head of the phoenix into his gut, then managed to swing him around and send him flying back in the direction he had come from just a moment ago, knocking another guy in the same uniform out.

I blinked in surprise and looked at my staff in bewilderment. "Whoa...how did I manage to _do_ that? How is it that I'm that strong?"

"No way! How did they manage to take out so many so fast?!" called one voice.

I looked up from my staff, and my eyes widened upon seeing the large crowd of men in white, blue, and black uniforms standing around where we were...as well as the large number of them who had collapsed as a result of Sanji's and Zoro's attacks.

"A-and...who are those guys?! I don't recognize them!" someone else yelped.

"Do you think we should have introduced ourselves first?" Zoro asked, glancing over at Sanji.

"Nah." Sanji lit a cigarette and put his lighter away in one of the pockets of his pants. "I find it better to let my feet do the talking."

"Whoa...." I couldn't believe that Luffy had asked me to join a crew with this much strength -- and that I had accepted...even though he didn't know yet....

"The Straw Hats are here!" Zambei roared out somewhere. A loud roar from the Franky Family followed closely on his voice's heels.

I shifted my grip on my staff and looked around the area, trying to see where they were. I couldn't really see anything other than all the government guys and what looked like some sort of giant mound of...wait a second....

"How in the world did _that_ guy get to be so big?!" I yelped, looking at the collapsed figure of what looked like a human. There was smoke rising from somewhere on his back...was that what we ended up ramming into?

"Hmm?" Zoro glanced over at what I was looking at. "That's a giant. He's naturally at big."

"Whoa.... That's pretty incredible."

I got a flash at the back of my mind of a giant figure wearing strange armor, but that vanished as quickly as it had come. Did it mean I had run into giants before, or....?

"Maria-san."

I was jolted out of my thoughts by Sanji's voice, and I looked over at the blond chef.

"You might want to concentrate on the people who are still up," Sanji warned.

"O-oh, yeah. Right." I looked back at the people around us and shifted my staff again. Those guys weren't going to stare at us in shock forever.

"Hey, I think I recognize the guy with the sword...." one of the guys surrounding us muttered. "He's one of Straw Hat's henchmen isn't he?"

"Yeah," another one agreed. "Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro. That's gotta be him."

Pirate Hunter? But Zoro is a _pirate_. How does that make any sense?

Sanji chuckled. "Henchman, huh?"

"At least he recognized me," Zoro responded, unfazed by Sanji's teasing tone. The green-haired swordsman glanced back at the blond cook with a dry smirk. "You're not even a henchman; you're just 'Pirate A'."

Sanji's face contorted into a dark frown as he glared at Zoro. "What was that?"

Uh oh. Is this going to be like what it was back in the hotel room?

"Or maybe, you're 'Pirate B'," Zoro continued, still smirking.

Sanji dashed over to Zoro and stood so close to them they may as well have been nose to nose. "Listen, when I get a bounty, it's going to be twice as much as yours."

"Whatever...Pirate C."

"Stop changing it!"

"Uh, guys?" I raised my left hand tentatively. "Now may not be the best time to argue about who's bounty is going to be bigger."

"There's more of them over there!"

I turned my head and saw Sogeking and Chopper together, one leaning against one side of the train car. Both of them suddenly jumped when the man pointed the two of them out, letting out yells of surprise.

"Someone could still be on the train! Blow it up!"

A bunch of Marines suddenly pulled up what looked like large bazookas and aimed them at the train car.

That, thankfully enough, got Sanji's attention.

"Hey, wait!" Sanji went running towards the train car and the bazooka guys. "Nami might still be in there!"

"Kokoro, Chimney, and that rabbit are still in there, too!" I called after him.

No no no no no --

The bazookas went off, and the train car exploded into fire.

Wait. _Fire._ I can work with this!

I ran towards the train car as fast as I could, then reached out. "Flash Fire!"

The fire reacted instantly, reaching out towards me and curling around my fingers. I could feel the warmth from the fire as it spread through the rest of me, and it felt like I had suddenly been given an energy boost.

Of course, me absorbing fire right there got a _lot_ of attention.

"What the hell is she?!" someone near me demanded. "Is that a Devil Fruit power? Is she a Logia type?"

"That can't be!" someone else responded. "Fire Fist Ace ate the Flame Flame Fruit! This has to be a Paramecia we're looking at!"

What did _that_ mean? A Devil Fruit's a Devil Fruit, isn't it? And who's Fire Fist Ace?

The fire was almost gone, now, and I felt like I could jump up and never come back down with all the energy I had. It felt _great_ \-- no, _fantastic._

"You damn kid! I'm gonna kill --"

On instinct, I swung out with the arm that was covered in flames and -- get this -- _the flames followed my arm_. They hit the Marine guy right in the gut and sent him flying back into his buddies.

I stared in shock at what I had just done, and then a grin spread across my face. "Cool! I can control fire when I touch it!"

"If they harmed one hair on Nami-san's head or try to attack Maria-san, I'm gonna--"

"Hold your horses, Pirate A."

"Enough with that already!"

I turned to look over at Sanji and Zoro. The cook was back to yelling at Zoro.

"Really, guys?" I asked. "It was funny back in Water 7, but _here?"_

"Nami's not a background character, like you," Zoro added. "One little bazooka and a bunch of fire isn't going to kill her."

"Damn you, henchman! Why don't you show at least a little more care for a lady at least this once?!"

There came the sound of the bazookas reloading, and I turned in order to face the handheld cannons. Ah, shoot. I'm standing right in the line of fire. My legs bent underneath me, so that I could use my newfound energy so that I could start running.

Before I could move, though, there came a yell from one of the Marines.

"Hang on! Cease fire! There's an old woman and a kid up there!"

I turned my head upon hearing that, then glanced back at the train itself, which had luckily been left untouched from the bazooka fire. Standing on top of the train -- _since when was the nose of Rocket Man bent like that? --_ were Kokoro, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit. Each one of them was waving and grinning at the Marines.

I let out a sigh of relief. "They're safe. That's good."

"The Straw Hats captured us and forced me to work the train for them in order to get here!" Kokoro called out.

"Those meanies!" Chimney added.

 _Wait...what?!_ What are they talking about? I opened my mouth in order to tell them off and correct them, but then a hand came in out of nowhere and slammed over my mouth.

"Don't," Zoro muttered behind me. "If the Marines figure out that they worked with us out of their free will, then they'll arrest them just because they helped us."

I reached up and yanked his hand off my mouth. His hand felt _really_ tense for a moment, but he relaxed just enough so that I could speak without slobbering all over his hand.

"They're idiots for doing that," I declared in a low growl, turning to look at Zoro. Behind him, Sanji was standing in an angry stance and looked like he was about ready to come over and _bite_ Zoro. What was he so mad about?

Zoro noticed where I was looking and glanced back at Sanji. "Oh." A grin came over his face. "He just doesn't like it if anybody except for him touches a girl."

" _Any_ girl?" I raised an eyebrow cautiously.

"Any girl." Zoro gave a nod and his grin got a little bit wider. I couldn't help but smirk at the idea that I had just assisted in pushing Sanji's buttons.

"Ah, there you are, Nami-swan! I knew you'd make it out okay!"

I saw that Sanji had suddenly gone into his heart-for-an-eye mode again, and he was looking over at the bent nose of the train, where these...red and blue balls were drifting up into the air, where there was this giant black cloud.

"Is that...Nami's doing?" I asked.

"That's the witch's work, all right," Zoro replied, growling.

There was movement near the train, and I saw Nami get to her feet, gripping two Clima Tact segments in her hands. She tightened her grip on one of them, and yellow sparks came flying off the orb at the end.

Wait...yellow _sparks._

"I think it might be a good idea to get away from the train," I commented, backing away.

Zoro gave me a curious look, so I elaborated as I continued moving.

"Metal in a lightning storm is _never_ a good idea."

"I hope you're ready...because here comes the new Thunderbolt Tempo!"

Nami winded back, then threw her arm forward. A ball of yellow energy came off the orb on the staff segment, and it went flying up into the dark cloud above us.

After that, it was the pure chaos of raining lightning.

I gripped my staff as I watched the lightning come down around us. I didn't like the look of it, going willy-nilly and striking everybody in sight. Yes, it was hitting the government guys, but I think I saw Zambei running as fast as he could in order to avoid some of the lightning. Shoot, there was even some lightning that hit nearby buildings and caused the windows to break!

One particular lightning bolt started to come at us, and Zoro and I nearly managed to jump out of the way of the electricity.

"This is a dangerous attack!" I yelped.

"You're telling me," Zoro replied, looking up at the thundercloud. I could see that it was starting to disperse, and I looked over at the people that had clearly been hit.

There were piles of men collapsed all over the place...including Sanji, of all people.

"Damn it, Nami!" Zoro shouted, glaring in a specific direction. I followed his gaze and caught sight of Nami standing unharmed next to Sogeking and Chopper. "Watch where you aim that thing next time!"

Nami and Sogeking looked at each other -- it looked like the navigator was yelling at Sogeking for some reason...

Oh, wait -- that's right. Usopp made the Clima Tact. She must be mad at him because of something with the move.

Sanji suddenly jumped up from where he had been lying collapsed on the ground. "Nami-swan! I haven't felt a shock like that since the first time I met you!"

"How cheesy can you get?" I asked, frowning at the cook. I looked over at Zoro. "And you deal with this every single day?"

"Every damn hour."

There came a cackling noise from somewhere nearby, and we turned our heads. I saw what looked like a slightly damaged red and white umbrella, and underneath it...Kokoro, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit.

"Hey, Kokoro," Sanji called out. "Glad to see that you made if out all right."

"Well of course I did! I haven't survived this long just because of luck!" Kokoro laughed again.

"So, anyway," Zoro spoke up, "what about our captain? Any guesses on where he went?"

"I dunno...." Nami frowned.

"He's probably somewhere out in that direction." I motioned towards a building with three tall, thin gates. "I mean, there really isn't anywhere else to go, right?"

There suddenly came a loud explosion from somewhere in that direction, and we turned our heads to see a cloud of smoke rising from a nearby building.

"That's _got_ to be where he's at," Zoro, Sanji, Sogeking, and Nami all said at once.

"He must have run into some trouble, then, right?" I asked.

"Always," Sanji muttered through clenched teeth. "Bastard captain." He took the cigarette out of his mouth and released a puff of smoke. "All right, then."

"Let's get moving," Zoro stated.

Zoro and Sanji took off down a street, and the rest of us scrambled after them.

"I think we should take a right," Zoro called out.

"Then we should take a left," Sanji responded.

Zoro spluttered.

"You don't trust Zoro's directions?" I asked, frowning.

"Guys, chill!" Nami called out. "We're just going straight!"

"If our idiot captain hadn't decided to run off on his own, we wouldn't be in this mess," Zoro muttered.

"Well, we're the ones following that idiot around," Sanji commented, "so what does that make us?"

"Sanji's got a point," I remarked. "We've all got to be at least a little bit crazy."

"Then again," Nami continued, "thanks to Luffy, the Marine forces are scattered all over the island. All we have to do now is head straight for the courthouse."

"Hold on!" Sogeking yelped. "My chronic illness is back!"

"Then stay here and die on your own," Nami replied calmly.

"O-on second thought, I feel just fine!"

"That's better."

I resisted the urge to laugh, but the feeling died pretty quickly, because Zoro suddenly came to a halt. There was something about the way he was standing....

"What's up?" I asked, gripping my dragon staff in both hands.

"Looks like we've got guests," Zoro replied.

As if they were waiting for Zoro to cue them in, a _huge_ number of men riding large white dogs came in from out of nowhere. The dogs weren't the weirdest thing, though -- it was what the men were wearing.

I mean, who in their right minds would put a target right on their _heads_?

"We are the Watch Dogs! Guardians of the Front Gate!" the guy on the lead dog declared with a crazed, toothy grin. "You've run rampant for far too long, villains! No criminal shall cross this line!"

Sanji took the cigarette out of his mouth and released a puff of smoke. "What's wrong? You guys can't afford horses?"

"I think they're meant to be like symbols or something," I commented, looking at the dogs thoughtfully. A memory flashed through my mind, but it was gone before I could grab it.

"Look around before you mock us!" the guy on the lead dog barked. Heh. There's a laugh and a half. "Pirate scum!"

I heard the sound of shoes hitting the stone, and I looked behind me and caught sight of people running into the street from all sides. Marines and those guys in black. And all of them were armed and looked really dangerous.

I shifted how I was standing so that I had my back to the Straw Hats and I was facing the government guys around us.

"These guys really don't like us, do they?" I asked, looking over at Zoro and the others.

"You have no idea." Sanji replied, bored.

"Yahahahaha!" the lead Watch Dog laughed. "There's no way for you to escape now! You're finished!"

"Yeah?"

I glanced over at Zoro, and I caught sight of what looked like a crazed grin crossing his face.

"We'll see," Zoro commented.

There was a growl from the guy on the dog. "You cocky little scoundrel! All right, men! Let's --"

He was cut off by a loud roar, which was followed pretty closely by men letting out yells and scattering as the giant yellow King Bull came _rolling in_ up one of the streets.

"Grab on!"

I looked up upon hearing the familiar voice, and I saw Paulie throw out six ropes with a knot tied at the end. The one that was sent to me ended up wrapping around my staff while the others caught theirs. Well...most of them, anyway. For some reason, Sogeking got his around his neck.

Paulie yanked up, and my grip tightened on my staff so that it wouldn't go slipping out of my hands. Instead, I went flying _up_ onto the back of the yellow King Bull, landing with a loud _thud_ on the wooden seats of the gondola-thingy that was on the King Bull's back. Sanji and Zoro seemed to be the only ones who actually managed to take the landing in stride. They were the only ones who stayed on their feet, at any rate.

"Thanks," Sanji commented, sitting down on his seat. "Could've let us have some fun first, though."

"You idiot!" Paulie replied shortly. "Don't forget the reason you came here. Save your energy for the _real_ fight."

I shifted my hands on my staff. "Right. We came to fight the CP9 bozos, not get bogged down by everybody else."

"We'd be here all day with that many guys," Sanji agreed, glancing back at the crowd the King Bull had barged through.

"Watch Dogs! Get back in formation! You can run all you like, but our dogs aren't going to lose to a couple of fish!"

I blinked upon hearing the voice, then peered over the edge of the seats with Chopper. Sure enough, the guys on the dogs were back again.

"They're gonna jump up on the boat!" Chopper warned.

I scowled. "Why can't Target Head leave us alone?"

"Target Head?" Nami repeated, coming over.

"Have you _seen_ what's on their helmets?" I motioned to the men below as though that was proof enough. "We've gotta do _something_ about them." I brought my staff forward in front of me, like I could actually use it against them. I don't know _why_ I did, though, so I just gave my staff a curious frown.

"Hey, wait -- what's going on, here?"

I looked up upon hearing Sanji's voice, then watched in confusion as Paulie -- who had been steering the King Bull -- moved to the back of the seats, where Tilestone and Lulu were already standing. I moved away from the edge of the seats and watched them curious, as to what they were going to do.

"When you see 'em," Paulie stated without looking back at us, "I want you to pass on a message for me."

Them? What did Paulie mean by that?

"You're. All. Fired."

Fired? I blinked a couple times before the realization hit me full in the face. He was talking about those CP9 guys!

A nasty grin crossed Zoro's face. "You got it."

"All right!" came Target Head's voice from below. "Jump!"

"Not so fast!" Paulie called back, jumping off the seats. The two shipwrights that were with him followed close on his heels as they barreled down towards the men on the white mutts and instantly took four of them out at once.

"That...was so...cool," Chopper murmured quietly from where he was.

"Yeah." I nodded, thinking back to when I was in Water 7 for those first few days. "They aren't foremen at Dock 1 for nothing. They'll definitely give those government guys a lot of trouble so that we can keep moving and find Luffy and rescue Robin."

Chopper smiled up at me. "Those guys are really awesome! I hope Luffy asks one of them to join our crew! We could use a shipwright like them!"

"It would be cool to have Paulie with us," I agreed, nodding.


	21. Devil Fruits and King Bulls

"Hey, Maria."

"Hmmm?" The amnesiac looked up from the street. She had been watching the Marines and government agents scramble out of the way of the yellow King Bull's attached treads -- mostly out of boredom.

"That thing you did with the train car before," Sanji continued from where he was sitting in the front of the wooden seat, the giant yagara's reins in his hands. "Is that another one of those rediscovered abilities of yours?"

"Flash Fire, you mean?" Maria gave the pirate chef a grin. "I found out about it in Iceberg's bedroom. I can absorb fire and turn it into energy I can use -- I can even heal myself with it!"

"Do you think you can heal other people?" Chopper piped up, looking curious.

Maria blinked a couple times, then frowned, scratching the top of her head and scrunching the fabric of her red and orange baseball cap, which she was still wearing backwards. "I'm...I'm not sure. But I kinda felt _something_ when I threw some of the fire at those Marine guys and sent them flying, so there's gotta be more to it than just _absorbing_ fire." The girl's frown deepened, her blue eyes seeming to darken a couple shades. "I heard some of them talking, though...what's a Logia Devil Fruit? And who's Ace?"

The other Straw Hats looked at each other upon hearing the amnesiac's question, while Maria fingered the zipper of her orange jacket, a thoughtful frown crossing her face.

"Devil Fruits are separated into three different categories," Nami spoke up, getting Maria to look over at the orange-haired navigator. "Logia, Paramecia, and Zoan. Zoan types allow the user to transform between different forms -- like Chopper can."

Maria's eyes widened slightly, and she looked over at Chopper with a curious expression. The reindeer smiled sheepishly and rubbed the back of his head.

"So, Zoan allows people to transform into animals, then?" Maria asked cautiously.

Nami nodded. "That's pretty much it, yeah. Logia Devil Fruits are fruits that turn the eaters into some kind of element. Ace, for instance, is a pirate who ate the Flame Flame fruit, so he's made completely out of fire."

Maria's eyes widened even further. "Whoa...really? I'd like to meet him sometime, then. It'd be really cool to meet someone who actually _is_ fire. Does he even look human anymore?"

"Yeah," Zoro spoke up. "We met him back in Alabasta. He's Luffy's older brother."

Maria blinked a couple times. "Really? Luffy has a brother?" A grin appeared on her face -- that had been happening more and more, now that she was with the Straw Hats and interacting with them.

Zoro raised an eyebrow. "You're not surprised?"

"Well, it's kind of hard _to_ be, since I'm still learning about a lot of stuff," Maria responded. "Besides, I don't know you guys, so anything you tell me know won't be as much of a surprise as something you could tell me later."

Zoro inclined his head, then gave a nod.

Nami let out an impatient cough, getting the amnesiac's attention again.

"Anyway, the third Devil Fruit category is the Paramecia type," Nami stated, picking up where she had left off. "They've pretty much got every other power that you can think of. Our captain's rubber powers are a part of that group."

Maria blinked a couple times, then frowned. "But...Luffy's _made_ of rubber, right? Wouldn't that make him a Logia?"

"There's more to Logias than that, Maria-san," Sanji called back. At the same time, Chopper started making his way to the front of the seating area while the King Bull turned around and looked back at its passengers, grunting something that no human could understand.

"Really?" Maria looked up at the chef.

"Yes. Because they embody certain elements, they can turn their bodies _into_ that specific element, but still look human. Bullets, swords, fists, feet -- none of that can touch them, unless you find a way to counteract their element."

"Like with water? You said Devil Fruit users can't swim, right?"

"Correct, Maria-san!" Sanji swooned. He returned to his normal self a moment later. "Our captain is a Paramecia because, while blunt force doesn't affect him anymore, swords still do."

Maria blinked a couple times at Sanji's actions, and she couldn't help but wonder if the blond chef was bipolar or something. If he was, that would make him pretty dangerous.

Zoro took note of the uncomfortable expression that appeared on Maria's face, and he gave a sigh of annoyance. "Oi, dartboard. You're scaring the new kid."

Sanji bristled. "What was that?!" He glared at the green-haired swordsman, who shifted and grabbed one of his swords in preparation for an attack from the chef.

Maria quickly dashed over and attempted to move between the two boys in an attempt to keep the two from ramming into each other. She ended up standing behind Zoro.

"Guys, please!" the amnesiac begged. "Now isn't the time to be fighting! What if those Target Heads show up again?"

"Nah, those shipwrights will be able to take care of them," Sanji replied calmly.

"But what if there are other enemies besides them?" Maria insisted. "You need to be on your toes watching _them,_ not being at each other's throats!" The teen motioned out to one side while a number of panicked yells came from below.

Zoro and Sanji ignored her, instead keeping their gazes locked with each other.

"Maria, relax," Nami called out at the amnesiac. "They do this sort of thing _all the time_. You're not going to be able to do anything in order to stop them."

Maria turned to look over at the navigator, blinking in confusion. "But --"

"Seriously. There's nothing you're really going to be able to do if you really want to stop them." Nami shrugged helplessly.

Maria gave a sigh and her shoulders sagged, then she walked over to where she had been sitting before and sat down with a sigh.

A moment later, a high whistling noise came in from out of nowhere, causing Maria to look up in surprise. Her blue eyes widened moments later when she caught sight of a cannonball careening towards her.

Zoro shot in front of the amnesiac and pulled out one of his swords, easily deflecting the cannonball and sending it into the street. Maria flinched a little when she heard the explosion and the Marines yelling in surprise.

"Thanks," Maria stated, looking up at the swordsman.

Zoro glanced back and gave a nod in response.

"Now I've got you, pirate lady!"

Nami let out a scream, causing Maria to turn her head sharply. Her eyes widened when she saw that Nami's wrist was being gripped by a Marine. The amnesiac started to get to her feet in order to rush over and help, but someone else beat her to it.

"Don't you dare touch Nami-swan!"

_Bam!_

Maria watched in befuddlement as Sanji suddenly came flying in from out of nowhere and slammed into the Marine's arm. Her eyes widened when she heard his arm snap, and the Marine let out a scream in response as he let go of Nami and fell off the King Bull.

There came a strange chuckle from behind Maria, and she turned sharply, stretching out her right arm and sending the appearing staff slamming across the face of the figure that was directly behind her -- who happened to be another Marine. He let out a yell of pain and fell to the street below.

Maria let out a sigh of relief and wiped an arm across her forehead. "I think I'm going to leave this out from now on," she commented, shifting the phoenix-headed staff around in her right hand.

"Yeah," Nami agreed, bringing out her Clima Tact and putting the segmented sections together. "I don't want to get caught by another Marine like that."

Gunfire started to go across the seating area, causing Maria to let out a yelp and duck behind the seat in front of her. She could hear metal hitting against metal nearby, but the amnesiac wasn't sure what was causing that noise.

"Cut it out!" Sanji roared in annoyance. There came the sound of wood cracking, and Maria could hear something slam into someone, causing some yells in the distance. The gunfire and bullets flying above Maria's head lessened, and the teen looked up cautiously. When no one shot at her, the amnesiac settled back to where she had been sitting before.

"What'd you do, Sanji?" the amnesiac called out.

"I stopped those bastards with a door to the face!" Sanji called back, grinning. He motioned to their left, and Maria caught sight of a door that was slammed over some sort of opening in a nearby building.

"So that's where the shooting was coming from...." Maria gave the chef a grin. "Thanks!"

"No problem, my dear Maria-san!"

"So then!" Chopper turned around where he was standing and looked at the others. "When Sodom and his brother Gomorrah were about to die in the belly of a Sea King, the Franky Family showed up. They were rescued and told these fateful words that he still remembers: 'Look, we're already full, so we're not gonna eat you.'"

Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing this. "Wouldn't that make you terrified of your rescuers instead of delighted with them?" Her question was ignored.

"And from that day forward the two brothers swore their undying loyalty to Franky!" Chopper declared.

Behind him, Sodom grinned and made what sounded like a laugh.

"So, let me get this straight," Sanji stated, back at the reins again. "The Franky Family caught a Sea King, ate it, and these two were saved only because Franky was already full?"

"That doesn't exactly sound right, no matter how you look at it," Maria called up from her seat.

Sanji gave a grunt, then bent his head back so that he could look up at the King Bull's face. "Hey, you mind watching where you're going? You're making me nervous."

"He's not the only one who's nervous," Nami muttered from nearby. She shifted and tried to look around the King Bull's head and neck in order to get a look at what was going on ahead of them. "Riding on this guy is nice and all, but if he runs himself into a building, then we're going to be trapped by all the Marines."

"And I'm not sure that I can take on this many enemies yet," Maria agreed, taking her staff in both hands and looking down at the men below.

Sodom let out a roar.

" 'I will follow Big Bro Franky until the day I die!' he says," Chopper translated.

"I bet he's really happy that one of us can understand what he's saying," Sanji commented dryly.

"If he spoke as the Pokemon do, I might be able to translate," Maria commented, thinking back to the memories she had recovered so far. "But I haven't been able to pick up anything from any of the yagaras, so I don't think their language is anything like a Pokemon's."

"Kid, I suggest you keep anything about your past like that to a minimum," Zoro called back. "I haven't heard anything about those 'Pokemon' things you mentioned back in the hotel room, and everybody else in the world probably hasn't, either."

"Well then, where did my memories come from?" Maria retorted, frowning. "And we're about the same age, so don't call me kid!"

"Not from any island that people would have normally come across, probably." Zoro shifted in his seat to lock eyes with Maria. "You can tell us, but until you get any proof of anything like those creatures existing in real life, I'd suggest keep any talk of your memories to a minimum outside our crew, all right?"

Maria blinked a couple times, then gave a slight nod. "Uh...yeah, sure."

"Sodom just said, 'By the way, the masked guy who was with you never made it onto my back, is that all right?' "

Maria looked up at Sodom's head as she heard Chopper translate. "Masked guy...?" She looked around the other seats for a moment before her eyes widened. "He's right! Sogeking isn't here!"

Chopper let out a panicked yell and Maria looked around in a slightly panicked state while the others gained annoyed expressions.

"Why here? Why now?" Nami groaned.

"Idiot," Zoro muttered. "Did he fall off?"

"Sodom said he never made it on here from the start!" Chopper wailed.

"Don't tell me," Sanji muttered. "Did he run away again?"

Maria blinked a couple times. "Again?"

"Oh, yeah." Zoro turned and looked back at the amnesiac behind him again. "He's always done that, the lying coward. He'll show up later, though."

"You're sure about that?"

"If I know him, yeah."

Chopper looked confused. "Again? But we haven't met Sogeking before, Zoro."

Zoro stiffened a little, then scowled over at the reindeer. "Forget I said anything."

"Uh...o-okay. But what are we gonna do about Sogeking?!"

Maria shifted forward on her seat. "How long are you going to keep up the charade?"

"Chopper can believe what he wants." Zoro shrugged. "Like I'm going to be the one to tell him who Sogeking is. Besides, there really isn't anything we can do. It's not like we can go back and pick him up. I'm sure he'll figure out something in order to reach us."

"But the whole island is swarming with Marines!" Nami argued as she came over to Zoro and Maria. "He's not Luffy, you know -- he can't fight them off on his own!"

"Even if we don't realize it at first, we've gotten stronger with very challenge we've faced." Zoro turned his head and looked at the orange-haired navigator. "He may not think he's tough, but he's survived just as well as we have. No one from our crew would die at a time like this. Don't worry."

"From our crew?" Chopper repeated from the front seat, confused. A frown appeared on his face. "What are you talking about, Zoro? Sogeking may be here to help, but he doesn't replace Usopp!"

 _Because he_ is _Usopp,_ Maria thought dryly.

"He'll be fine," Sanji responded coolly. "He _is_ a superhero, after all."

Chopper blinked a couple times, then turned and faced ahead. "Yeah. There's no way Sogeking would let evil triumph over good! He _can't_ lose!"

"And neither can we," Maria spoke up, raising her staff. "There's no way we're letting them get away with Robin!"

"Look! We're almost to the Court House!" Zoro called out, pointing ahead of them at the tall building with the three doors.

"Then we're that much closer," Maria responded eagerly, getting up to her feet as though her moving was going to make the King Bull move faster.

Seconds later, however, Sodom ended up stopping in his tracks.

_BOOM!_

"WE'VE BEEN HIT!!" Sanji yelled as smoke rose up from where the explosion had occurred: Sodom's front.

Maria's blue eyes widened when she saw the blood all over the King Bull's front, and her skin paled a little. "I don't think I've seen that much blood spilling from a person before...."

"This is bad!" Chopper yelled over Sodom's roars of pain and the Franky Family's exclamations of alarm. "He needs my help!"

"Grit your teeth and hold on, Sodom!" Zambei called out. "You can't fall yet!" The purple zebra-striped King Bull moved over to the yellow one's side in an attempt to keep the hit sea creature from collapsing. "Guys, you're gonna have to jump! Get off, quick! Sodom can't go on!"

"No!" Maria exclaimed, looking back and forth between the crowded King Bull and the one the Straw Hats were riding. "We can't leave him behind! He could get finished off by the Marines!"

"You guys have to keep moving!" Zambei retorted. "You're the only ones who can do this!"

Sodom let out a guttural roar, then turned around and looked at his passengers before grunting a couple times.

"He says 'Go!'," Chopper wailed out.

Maria looked up at the bleeding face of the King Bull. For a moment, she thought that she could see through his goggles and straight to his eyes, but that was gone as soon as Sodom moved and started nudging his brother, as though to say "get moving!"

Maria jumped when a hand suddenly clamped down on her wrist, and the amnesiac let out a yelp when Sanji pulled her up onto the purple-zebra King Bull's back, the others moving at he same time.

They ended up on the outside of the seats, with Nami, Chopper, and Sanji moving to the back to stand next to Yokazuma -- Maria was surprised to see that the giant frog was actually riding with everyone else _._ The amnesiac teen and the green-haired swordsman ended up standing next to each other, watching in horror as Sodom collapsed, sending Marines scattering before they could get squished.

Zoro looked away from the sight, then moved to stand next to Zambei in the front. "Let's go."

"Right." Zambei gave a nod, then flicked the reins, exclaiming, "Let's go, Gomorrah!"

Maria gripped the side of the wooden seats as the King Bull started moving with a bit of an abrupt jerk. Her staff disappeared in a shower of sparks again when she gripped the side with both hands.

"Those people...." Maria shook her head quietly. "There's no way that I'm going to be able to do anything to help against CP9, if even the Marines have this kind of power. But...how am I going to get stronger without even knowing what kind of abilities I have? The staff and the Flash Fire thing are cool and all, but...what else can I do?"


	22. Court House, Dead Ahead!

"It's a trench mortar!" Zambei called out suddenly. "Gomorrah, dodge!"

The purple-zebra King Bull ducked his head, and Maria heard something whistle above her head before an explosion caused the building behind them to explode.

"Is that the thing that they hit Sodom with?" Maria asked, looking over at Mozu curiously.

The yellow-themed twin of the square-haired woman duo nodded. "Yeah, that sounds about right."

"Nothing else would be able to take our King Bulls down," Kiwi added. "We're going to have to get back at them for that."

"Damn those Marines, setting up an ambush life that." Zambei's voice wasn't as loud as Tilestone's, but it was certainly loud enough that Maria could hear it over the Marines shooting at them from below. "Taking the main road was a bad idea. Gomorrah, turn around!"

The King Bull roared in response, then started to shift his position on the street. When he had managed to make a successful turn, he started moving forward on a different route.

"I hope we get there in time," Maria murmured nervously, glancing over in the direction of the Court House. "I wouldn't want my first actual trip with the Straw Hats to end in failure like this...."

"Huh? Who could be calling at a time like this?"

The amnesiac turned her head upon hearing Nami's statement, then watched as she pulled back her jacket a little and started looking down. Blue eyes blinked in confusion until Maria realized that the navigator was referring to the Snail Phone on her person.

"Hello?" Nami asked.

"It's me," came the snail's reply. The voice it responded in sounded like it was an old woman's.

 _Now, what old woman would we know who knows how to contact Nami?_ Maria asked herself, puzzled.

"Granny Kokoro!" Zambei exclaimed, looking back from his seat at the front.

_Oh, yeah. That's right._

"Sounds like you're all still alive," Kokoro commented.

"Yes, but we haven't been able to reach the Court House yet, and we're under heavy fire from the Marines," Nami responded.

"Then maybe the news I've got'll be of some help. I'm going to have to make this quick. If you remember from the map that Paulie drew, there's isn't a path from the Court House to the Gates of Justice."

Maria thought back to when they had still been on Rocket Man, and realization crossed her face when she realized that Kokoro was right -- there had just been a _really_ dark gap between the two.

"Does that mean we just can't run over there like we are now?" Maria asked aloud.

"That's right," Kokoro confirmed. "Look at the Court House. Do you see those towers on either side?"

Nami and Maria looked over in the direction of the Court House. Maria was quick to scan the building, taking note of the three doors and the ornate entrance...as well as the two shorter buildings on either side.

"Yeah, I see them," Nami replied.

"All right. Now, there's a level at the top floor of each of those towers. If you folks can get in there and pull both of them, I'm sure the drawbridge will come down and give you passage to the Gates of Justice."

"A drawbridge?" Maria repeated. "Well, I guess that's one way of them keeping people from going places they aren't meant to go." She looked over at Nami -- and, to that extent, the snail. "How do you know about that?"

"I came here with Tom ages ago to fix that bridge," Kokoro replied. "Damn stupid ungrateful government!"

"Don't take it out on me," Zambei muttered, his hands over his ears.

Maria blinked a couple times, then frowned in confusion. "Tom? Who's he?"

"Only the best shipwright Water 7's ever had!" Zambei declared, grinning over at Maria. "He built Pirate King Gold Rodger's ship over twenty years ago, _and_ the Puffing Tom to boot!"

Maria's eyes widened. "Really? That's pretty cool!"

At the back of the teen's mind, however, the words "Pirate King Gold Rodger" remained planted in her mind. Who was Gold Rodger? Was he the Pirate King right now?

"And then they executed the man eight years ago for stepping up for his apprentices!" Kokoro barked. "I swear, the things they do nowadays --"

"We get it, Kokoro," Zambei stated quickly, wincing as he rubbed his ears.

Kokoro made a "hmmmph" noise, then stated, "Chimney wants to talk, too."

"She still sounds a little annoyed," Maria muttered to Kiwi and Mozu. "I hope she manages to calm down a little before she talks to us again."

"Hey, Pirate Lady!" Chimney's voice exclaimed. "Can you hear me? Hello?"

"Yeah, you're coming in loud and clear," Nami responded, annoyed at Chimney's loud voice.

While Maria hadn't winced at Kokoro's yelling about the government, she did flinch a little when she heard Chimney's. The teen rubbed an ear with one hand, frowning at the snail in Nami's hand.

"You'd think her voice could sound less annoying," Maria muttered to herself, frowning.

"Guess what? I just saw your rubber pirate buddy! He was over on top of the Court House just now!"

"Rubber...?" Maria blinked a couple times before looking up at the Court House and then back at Nami. "Do you think she means Luffy?"

Nami gave an absent nod.

"And there was a lot of smoke and broken stuff up there, too!" Chimney added. "It looks like he's wrecking the place!"

Maria frowned upon hearing that. "What's he doing up there? He wants to get to Robin, right? Why stop to try and destroy a building?"

"He's probably run into some kind of trouble up there," Nami responded, glancing over at the amnesiac. She looked back down at the Snail Phone. "Thanks for letting us know."

"And by the way," Kokoro spoke up again, "don't hang up the Snail Phone. I'd like to keep track of what's going on with you folks."

"No problem," Nami replied. She looked up at the front of the seating area, and Maria turned her head to follow her gaze. The amnesiac frowned slightly when she saw that Zoro was looking back with a serious expression on his face.

"Can't keep the captain waiting, right, men?" Zoro asked, looking at the others on the King Bull.

The Franky Family let out a roar of agreement, while Yokazuma called out and raised his arms. Maria simply gave a nod in agreement, not feeling like yelling her lungs out.

"What sort of trouble do you think Luffy ran into?" Maria asked, looking over at Nami before glancing at the Court House.

"Probably just a Marine guard who's being really stubborn," the orange-haired navigator replied calmly. "He'll take care of him no problem."

Maria bit her lower lip as another thought came to mind, followed by a throbbing headache. "What if...what if it's one of those CP9 guys?"

Nami looked at Maria sharply out of surprise. "What gave you that idea?"

"I-I don't know. It's just...I've got a feeling, that's all."

Nami frowned. "Well, I don't know anything about a feeling, but I wouldn't look so worried. Crocodile couldn't stand up against Luffy when he got really serious, so I doubt that any CP9 agent will get in his way."

"So, no matter what, you guys have to head into the courthouse," Zambei stated, catching the two girls' attention.

Zoro, who had returned his gaze to the front of the King Bull, gave a nod. "Sounds good."

Sanji, Chopper, Nami, and Maria also gave nods.

"In the meantime, the Franky Family will split into two teams and bring down the drawbridge," Zambei continued, nodding to the people sitting on the seats.

"Right!" came the unanimous response.

"Hear that, Gomorrah?" Zambei called out, turning forward to look at the King Bull's head. "To the Court House!"

The purple-zebra striped sea creature let out a roar in response.

This was shortly followed by Gomorrah jerking, forcing Maria to tighten her grip on the wooden seats while Gomorrah suddenly fell to the side, his head slamming into a nearby building.

"What was that?" Maria asked, looking around quickly. "I didn't hear any whistle from a flying cannonball or anything."

"Look down there!" A Franky Family member who had been sitting near Maria stood up and pointed down at the road in front of him. The amnesiac turned her head and followed the pointing finger while others did the same.

Down on the ground were three large, hulking figures wearing strange, armored outfits...holding chains attached to _huge_ balls of metal.

Maria swallowed nervously, but didn't let go as Gomorrah was still sliding down the building and was sending practically everyone flying. She was relieved that she hadn't been sent flying _yet_ , but the sight of large men hauling _wrecking balls_ didn't exactly make her feel safe.

She wished that there was a way she could fight without having to summon her staff every single time, because she could hear the Marines cheering from behind them at seeing Gomorrah fall, and she doubted that all of them were going to come within range of her staff's reach.

The amnesiac was more than capable of whacking people over the head -- Maria knew that -- but long-range combat was an entirely different story.

 _::Attention all Marines!::_ someone's voice echoed out across the island, causing Maria to look up and around as she tried to find the source. _::The pirates' King Bull has been eliminated in Block D! All Marines should move in immediately and form a blockade around the entire area!::_

"Uh-oh," Maria commented. "That doesn't sound good."

"You got that right," Nami agreed, getting to her feet. She was still holding onto the wooden seats, so she hadn't been thrown off when Gomorrah had collapsed.

"The Marines we trampled over on our way here are catching up to us!" Sanji called out. "Not good."

"And it's not just them," Zambei added, looking around. "We're surrounded here!"

Maria looked down from where she was starting on Gomorrah, and she caught sight of a number of Marines and guys in black suits looking up. Her eyes widened, and and she paled while Chopper was yelling about how many Marines there had to be surrounding them.

The amnesiac swallowed nervously, then held out her right hand and brought out her staff in a bright flash. "Well, if I'm gonna start fighting --"

The sudden sound of an explosion cut Maria short, and she looked up and around quickly, trying to find some sort of sign as to where the noise had come from. Obviously, it hadn't come from anywhere near where she was, but --

"Hey, Cook."

Maria heard Zoro's voice and turned to look in his direction.

"See that?" The green-haired swordsman motioned with his head towards what looked like smoke coming off the top of the Court House. There was also a large gap in the wall that was surrounding the roof, and it looked like it had been torn off somehow. There was another collision noise seconds later -- most likely the part of the wall that had come off hitting the ground.

"Yeah," Sanji replied. "I saw. You know what that means. Luffy's already fighting CP9."

Nami's jaw dropped, and she turned her head sharply to look at Maria. "How were you able to guess that was what he was doing earlier?!"

Maria, a little embarrassed at the sudden attention she was getting, rubbed the back of her head, accidentally moving her red and orange baseball cap around. Taking if off and putting it back on -- making sure that the bill was still facing backwards -- the amnesiac commented, "I got a headache and an idea. I guess that's pretty close to a vision, but I don't know who he's fighting."

"Damnit!" Zambei cursed. "We're too late! But we can't do anything -- we're completely surrounded, and after that last big hit, I don't think Gomorrah's going anywhere!"

There came some yells from below, and bullets started flying up at the people on the King Bull's back. Maria let out a yelp and ducked down as low as she dared, holding the dragon staff in front of her face to prevent any bullets from hitting her there, but so far, none of the bullets had been able to hit their mark at all.

"Look, we've gotta run!" Zoro called out. "There's nothing more we can do here."

"Yeah," Sanji agreed. "Let's cut through to the Court House."

Maria swallowed nervously upon hearing Sanji's and Zoro's suggestions, shifting her grip on her staff a little, but still keeping a tight hold on the wooden seats in order to keep her balance. She didn't want to get any closer to the pirates than she already was, but Maria knew that she probably was going to have to sooner rather than later.

"Looks like it's our only option," Nami murmured.

The Straw Hats and the Franky Family were starting to file out of the seats, and Maria was preparing to slide down Gomorrah's side, when Chopper suddenly yelled, "STOP! Nobody get off!"

Maria blinked a couple times, then turned and looked back at the little reindeer. "What do you mean, Chopper?"

And that's when Maria heard it: the grunting and groaning that she had started to become familiar with when the doctor had been talking to the other King Bull.

"Everybody, hold on tight!" Chopper called out.

Maria wasn't about to take the little doctor's words for granted; she let her staff go and gripped the seats again in both hands, bracing herself against the wood as best she could. Not but a moment later, the King Bull's body shifted below her, and Maria let out a yelp when Gomorrah suddenly reared his head back and roared loudly.

"That's...that's what Gomorrah says!" Chopper added.

With that, a sudden jerk pulled Maria back for a moment, and then her body adjusted as Gomorrah started to roll forward again. A sigh of relief somehow escaped the amnesiac; obviously, she wasn't exactly looking forward to getting on the ground yet.

Gomorrah continued to roar loudly as his moving down the street started to pick up speed. He also started weaving back and forth up the street, sending Marines scattering below him. Maria wondered if he was doing in on purpose...and then he ended up ramming into a nearby building with his head, causing the amnesiac and the others to yell in alarm.

"Gomorrah!" Zambei called out. "What are you doing?! You're going to make us fall off if you keep crashing into stuff like that!"

"Maybe he's too injured to go on," someone else suggested.

Gomorrah growled as he pulled his head away from the building he had crashed into, and Maria flinched; going at that speed into sometimes that obviously wasn't going to move wasn't necessarily a good idea.

"What? No!" Chopper exclaimed.

"What is it?" Maria asked, looking over in the direction of the reindeer. Nami, who was right next to the doctor, gave him a curious look, as well.

"Gomorrah's blind!" Chopper exclaimed. "His retinas were damaged in that last attack, so he can't see!"

"What?" Maria's eyes widened as Gomorrah started moving again. "Then he definitely shouldn't be moving so fast!"

"He shouldn't be moving at all!" Chopper corrected.

"Gomorrah, stop!" Kiwi called out as Gomorrah rammed into another building -- this time on Maria's side of the seats. The amnesiac, luckily enough, wasn't thrown off or squished, but that didn't help her terrified heart at all.

 _I'm going back and forth between being terrified and being confident!_ Maria mentally yelped. _What's wrong with me?!_

"You're in no shape to go on -- you'll kill yourself!" Mozu added to her twin's statement.

Gomorrah roared in response, but didn't slow down a bit.

"He said he made a promise," Chopper translated. "To Sodom!"

Everybody on the King Bull's back turned to look at Chopper with expressions of surprise.

"A promise...?" Maria repeated.

The pink-hatted reindeer nodded. "He said, 'Leave this to me! I'll take on your share and carry everyone the rest of the way!'"

Maria's eyes widened, and she turned to look up at Gomorrah. The purple zebra King Bull hadn't bothered to turn around and look at his passengers like Sodom did, but it was clear that the sea creature wasn't planning on stopping anytime soon.

"That kind of a promise...." Maria bit her lower lip while the Franky Family members looked at their King Bull with concern.

"Gomorrah," Zambei murmured, worry clear in his tone.

"Guys, look up ahead!" One of the Franky Family members pointed up the street at a building that was right in Gomorrah's path. "We've reached a dead end! If we don't do something, we're gonna crash into it and die!"

Maria stiffened as she looked at the stone building in front of them. "I don't wanna die now!" she squeaked. "I don't have my memories back yet!"

"Gomorrah!" Zambei yelled. "You've got to stop! Please!"

Gomorrah acted as though he hadn't even _heard_ the man's yell. He just kept going forward.

"Dead end?"

Maria blinked when she head Zoro's voice, then stood up a little taller so that she could see what was going on with the swordsman.

"I don't see one, do you?" Zoro asked, glancing over at Sanji.

"Nope," the blond cook replied. "Can't say I see anything of the sort."

Maria blinked in confusion, then looked over at Nami. "What are they going to do?"

"I don't know," the orange-haired navigator replied, frowning.

Maria turned her attention back to the cook and the swordsman, only for her eyes to widen when she saw them run up Gomorrah's neck and jump off the top of his head. After that, their movements were so fast that the amnesiac found it was impossible to keep up with them.

All she saw was slash marks appear in the stone, and then Sanji kicking a section of the building down while Zoro rammed through it, all three of his swords out and gleaming dangerously in the sunlight. And then Gommorah ramming through the rest of the building.

And then there was the building ahead of them. Maria could barely see it through the falling debris of he building Sanji, Zoro, and Gomorrah had taken down, but it was hard to miss a white-and-green building of _that_ size.

"Whoa...." Maria's eyes were wide with amazement -- both at the power Sanji and Zoro had, as well as the sheer size of the building in front of them.

"It's the Court House!" Zambei exclaimed, looking up at the white building in front of them while Gomorrah collapsed and Zoro and Sanji landed on the ground. "He did it!"

Maria let out a sigh of relief as she looked up at the building in front of them. "All right. Now all we have to do is get the drawbridge down and join up with Luffy, right?"

Nami gave a nod in agreement, a determined gleam in her eye. "Right!" The teen started to move around the wooden seats as the Franky Family members started to clamber off. "Come on -- let's get over to Zoro and Sanji!"

"Yeah!" Maria gave a nod and followed after the navigator while Chopper shifted to Walk Point and ran after them.

Getting down from Gomorrah was relatively easy. Since his body was so large, the slope his neck made actually wasn't all that steep, so running down it didn't cause Maria to trip over her own feet and roll head over heels to the stone ground below. The trio soon reached Gomorrah's head and jumped off (it wasn't really all _that_ far, something told Maria at the back of her mind), then ran over to Sanji and Zoro, who were looking up at the top of the Court House.

"Do you see Luffy?" Nami asked as they came to a stop in between the two boys.

"Nope," Sanji replied, not taking his eyes off the break in the wall. "And even if he _was_ up there, we can't exactly jump up there after him."

"That's true," Zoro conceded. "There's not really all that much we can do."

"How many members of CP9 did you see up there?" Nami asked again. She glanced over at Maria, who shrugged helplessly, before moving her gaze to the green-haired swordsman.

"Just the one big guy with the bull horns," Zoro replied, no so much as glancing over at the navigator.

"Bull horns...." Maria frowned, trying to wrack her brain for a name or a better description from what she remembered of their confrontation back in Iceberg's bedroom. "Didn't they say his name was Blueno or something like that?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right," the swordsman commented.

"It's hard to believe that Robin, Franky...all of them are right behind those doors," Sanji remarked.

"In any case, we need to catch up with Luffy," Chopper stated, a determined tone in his voice. "Then we can all save Robin together!"

"And I still haven't told him that I'm definitely joining you guys, either," Maria added, glancing up at the break in the wall. "And I really want to do that."

There suddenly came a loud whistling noise from somewhere, and the amnesiac turned her head at the same time at Sanji, Zoro, and Chopper did. Maria's eyes widened a moment later when she saw a huge wrecking ball on a chain coming straight in their direction -- it would make a direct hit on Nami, in fact.

"Move it!" Maria yelped, starting to dash out of the way of the oncoming iron ball. Before she could so much as take a step, however, there came the noise of a collision. The teen turned her head...and her eyes widened as her body relaxed in relief.

"GEDDO!" Yokazuma roared angrily, his front paws on the wrecking ball.

"Hey -- that's the same ball that took out Gomorrah!" one of the nearby Franky Family members called out. "I wonder who threw it?"

"Whoever did has to be ridiculously strong," Maria commented nervously. She brought out her phoenix staff and gripped it in both hands; no way was she going to let go of it now, not when enemies were so close.

"Look, over there! There's three of them!"

The wrecking ball's chain was suddenly yanked, and the ball went bouncing backwards and out of sight down an alley.

"Are they running away?" Chopper asked, frowning.

At the same time, Sanji suddenly dashed off after the wrecking ball, a sour look on his face.

"I...I don't think so," Maria murmured in reply, watching Sanji run off before looking over at the reindeer. "I mean, did you see how long that chain was? It's probably some kind of....some kind of...."

"Long-range weapon?" Nami suggested.

"Yeah!" Maria nodded. "That's what I was looking for!"

"Idiot cook," Zoro muttered. "We can't chase after _every_ person who attacks us; it's a waste of time!"

Not too soon after Zoro had called out, there came an explosion from the alley that Sanji had disappeared into, a large cloud of smoke rising up from the narrow street. The blond chef stepped out of it a few seconds later, his hands in his pockets while a large, muscular man suddenly fell out, clearly unconscious.

"Oh, pipe down, it's just confirmation," Sanji stated irritably as he made his way over to his fellow Straw Hats. "Some of them just _need_ to be chased, understand? It's so that we can find out who we're up against."

"That makes sense," Maria commented while the Franky Family made a unanimous noise of understanding.

"There's probably more of them hiding out there somewhere," Sanji added, coming to a stop and glancing back while the Franky Family swarmed the large man the cook had just taken down. "We're going to have to be on our guard."

Maria nodded, then started to look up the other streets in case there was not her wrecking ball that was going to come in and take off somebody's upper half. While she didn't see any of those, she did hear the large noise of men yelling angrily, and the amnesiac turned her head to the right. Her eyes widened moments later.

"We'd better get moving," Zambei noted while the others looked in the same direction as Maria and the Franky Family member. "Looks like there's reinforcements coming."

One voice somehow managed to make it above the other roars of the Marines: "We've got them surrounded! There's no way they're going to be able to open those big stone doors! Let's take them out!"

Maria frowned, then turned and looked up at the three large doors that were on the building. Not but a second later, a section of one of them collapsed...with Zoro standing right underneath it.

Zambei yelled in alarm while Maria's eyes widened in awe at the swordsman's strength.

"We're going in first!" Zoro called out to the others. "Stay close and don't fall behind!"

"Right!" Maria gave a slight nod.

"Okay, here's the plan!"

The amnesiac turned her head and saw that Zambei was looking at the others.

"Most of you go with Kiwi and Mozu in order to get the drawbridge down!" Zambei ordered. "The rest of you, come with me! We'll crack some eggs inside the Court House! Go!"

With that, the Franky Family suddenly split up, and Maria found herself running next to Zambei and through the entrance that Zoro had made in the center door in front of the Court House.

"We're getting closer," Maria murmured quietly, tightening her grip on her staff. Unbeknownst to her, _something_ flickered along the staff's phoenix head, but it disappeared before anyone else would have caught sight of it.


	23. A Three-Headed Monster?!

As soon as the group stepped into the Court House, Maria could see that Zoro was already causing trouble in the most awesome way that the swordsman could: he had created a _tornado_ right in the middle of the Court House, sending Marines flying up left and right.

"Whoa...." A blue flash came and went in the teen's mind, closely accompanied by a blast of wind and metal creatures getting sent flying off in all directions, exploding upon coming into contact with the walls of what looked to be some kind of canyon.

Sanji came in behind Maria and snorted. "Hmph. Show-off."

The tornado cleared up, letting the Marines drop to the ground. Zoro shifted his grip on his swords and pulled the white one out of his mouth before glancing back at Sanji with a smirk. "Like you could do any better, Dartbrow."

"What was that?!"

Zoro ignored him and looked back at the rest of the room in front of them while he sheathed two of his swords and rested a third on his right shoulder. "Well, those guys didn't put up all that much of a resistance, so we should have no problem getting through here."

Maria quickly scanned the area, taking note of the tall ceilings and...

"Is that a man _with three heads_ up there?!" Maria squeaked in surprise, pointing up at the figure at the other end of the Court House. It looked like he was slamming something with a mallet, but the amnesiac wasn't too sure, considering how far away from them the figure was.

Sanji turned his head from glaring at Zoro to looking up at the figure far above them. "Huh. So it is. I didn't think that people like that could exist."

Maria was startled to hear the blond cook say that so calmly, like surprises like this were a regular occurrence.

However, considering that they told her about an island they found in the _sky_ , nothing probably surprised them anymore.

"It's like that three-headed dog that's supposed to guard the underworld," one of the Franky Family members remarked. "What was it...Barabbas?"

"You mean Cerberus!" Zambei barked back.

"Order in the court, damn it!" the three-headed figure on the other side of the room roared. "This is a sacred chamber of law, you hooligans!"

Maria snorted, thinking back to what she had remembered back in Water 7. "Sacred, huh? Considering how they don't even give their criminals a fair trial in this place, I'd hate to see what they consider godly around here."

"You had the nerve to bust in here," the three-headed figure added, "so shut up, sit still, and receive your sentence!"

"GEDDO!" Yokazuma roared, slamming a fist into a Marine's face and sending him and those behind him into a nearby wall.

"As if!" Maria barked in agreement. She saw a Marine rush her from the front with a sword in his hand, and brought up her staff quickly in order to block the attack. Then, moving quickly, she pulled the staff away from the sword and slammed the phoenix head down onto the Marine's head. The man collapsed instantly.

_Three heads...now that I think about it, that kinda reminds me of those Quintessan things that I remembered in Water 7. Didn't they have, like, three faces or something?_

"All right, guys!"

Maria turned and glanced over at Zambei, who had gotten the attention of Zoro, Sanji, Nami, and Chopper, who had switched to Heavy Point when Maria hadn't been watching.

"You guys get to the roof and go after Straw Hat," Zambei instructed. "We'll stay here at the door and hold off the Marines. We're gonna watch your back, so get moving and don't you worry about the small fries."

"You got it," Sanji replied coolly.

"Hey, it looks like they're starting some kind of trial over there!"

Maria looked over at Nami, then followed her gaze over to the other side of the Court House, where a bunch of Marines had gathered underneath the podium where the three-headed figure was sitting.

"All I see are a bunch of nicely lined-up Marines waiting for a beat-down," Zoro commented.

"Who cares?" Sanji replied in an annoyed tone. He turned to look over at Nami and instantly gained the lovey-dovey expression that made Maria feel a little bit sick to her stomach. "Which way do we go, Nami-swan?"

"Straight ahead," Nami replied. "There are stairs on both sides, and I'm gonna bet that both lead up to the roof. Let's make our way to the top!"

"Right," Zoro replied. He started running forward, the others moving close behind.

"Hey, they're ignoring the trial!" one of the Marines called out. "I know these guys are pirates, but how rude can these guys get?!"

"We're not gonna play along with this!" Maria shouted back, annoyed at the man who had voiced his opinions. "Your stupid trial system is jury-rigged, and you know it!"

Zoro stopped short suddenly and glanced back at the others with a determined expression that bordered on the annoyed.

"Hey, what's the--"

"You might want to step back," Zoro interrupted Nami. "I've got an idea."

Maria and Nami looked at each other curiously, then at Zoro while he made sure all three of his swords were out and in the right places. The amnesiac started to back up a few steps while the Marines on the other side of here room started to prepare their weapons for a fight...only to pause.

The amnesiac had been watching the Marines, but when she saw that they looked nervous for some reason, her gaze moved to the only person in the room who actually had any chance of scaring Marines with that so-called idea of his. Maria's eyes widened seconds later.

Zoro's blades...they seemed to be _warping_. The swordsman himself was standing with his back hunched, two swords sticking up high in the air with his third in the usual position in his mouth, but all three of the swords were acting almost like...water, or something.

What scared Maria even more, though, was the strange figure that had suddenly appeared above Zoro's head. It looked like some sort of cloaked figure...with glowing red eyes...and it was _really_ creeping her out!

"Charming Demon...Sleepless Night!"

Zoro looked up at the Marines in front of them, then suddenly lunged forward with enough strength to send him through all the Marines that were in front of him.

"Oni Giri!"

 _Demon Slash,_ something murmured at the back of Maria's mind while the Marines Zoro had attacked were sent flying and collapsed all over the room. It kinda sounded like...a translation for what Zoro had just exclaimed while he was attacking.

"Is he the guy...who broke the door?" one of the heads of the three-headed figure asked. Now that she was closer, Maria could see that there was a difference in the chosen headwear for each of the heads...as well as different facial features.

Behind them, Zambei made a gagging noise. Maria hoped that it was more out of shock than anything going down his throat.

Zoro pulled the sword out of his mouth and placed two of them back in their sheaths. "Well, that's that. Now let's get moving!" He dashed forward, the others close behind him as they reached the stairs.

That is, of course, until Sanji kicked him in the head.

"Oi, what was that for?!" Zoro demanded, glaring at the blond cook.

"That was for hogging Nami-swan and Maria-san!" Sanji replied shortly. He looked over at the two girls and motioned for them to follow him. "Come on, you two. Forget about him."

Nami gave an annoyed snort as the chef started up the stairs, but then she and Chopper started to move, with Maria staying close to the reindeer.

"You do realize that we came here to _rescue Robin,_ right?" Nami asked in an annoyed tone.

Sanji stopped short. "Oh, yeah! I bet she's crying right now because she doesn't think her prince is going to save her!"

"Wait, _what?"_ Maria asked, blinking in confusion. She never got an answer however, because Sanji had already bolted up the rest of stairs and into an opening in the wall.

"Since when was he a prince?" Maria asked, frowning slightly.

"It's just another fantasy of his," Nami responded, waving off Maria's question with a careless motion of one hand.

Chopper suddenly let out a yell. "Zoro! That's the wrong way!"

Maria looked up at the reindeer, then followed his gaze down to the floor below them. Sure enough, Zoro had missed the stairs completely and was running for an opening on the first floor.

"Zoro!" Maria called out. "Why are you going that way? The stairs are right over here!"

Zoro stopped and turned around to look up at the trio, a frown darkening his face. "Since when?" he demanded. "They were this way a second ago."

Maria frowned and blinked a couple times in confusion. "No they weren't."

"Just get over here, Zoro, before I come down there and make you!" Nami barked. "How can you make such a big mistake when the stairs are right in front of you?!"

"If you wouldn't give such crappy directions, this wouldn't have happened!" Zoro barked back, still not moving from his spot.

"Seriously?! You're blaming me for this?! I'm the navigator -- I'm always right!"

"Well, I wouldn't put so much trust into your judgement like that, if I were you," Maria muttered under her breath.

Zoro ran over and started up the stairs while Chopper added his two cents to the pot.

"Zoro, I'll try to make you some medicine later to take care of your brain problem," the presently muscular doctor stated flatly.

"Brain problem?!" Zoro spluttered.

"Hey, Chopper?" Nami asked dryly. "Make some for _him_ while you're at it." She pointed up in the direction that Sanji had gone.

"I'll try," Chopper replied dubiously. "But he may be beyond help."

"Uh...guys?" Maria piped up nervously. "Can we talk about this later? We kinda need to get moving if we're going to meet up with Luffy." She pointed up the stairs herself.

"Yeah, I know." Nami glared down at Zoro. "And _I'm_ leading, so don't you dare get lost, all right?"

Zoro grumbled a string of curses under his breath. Maria was only able to catch the words "stupid witch" before they started running up the stairs in the direction Sanji had gone.

When Chopper and Maria reached the flat surface above the initial flight of stairs -- "landing," Maria's mind provided -- the muscular doctor turned to look back down the stairs. "Are you still with us, Zoro? It's this way!"

"Yeah, I know!" Zoro barked back as he came up the stairs.

Maria turned and started moving after Nami, but then she noticed something really weird.

"Where's this shadow coming from?" Maria asked aloud, frowning as she looked at the dark spot she was now standing in.

"You pirates are gonna ignore the Chief Justice, huh?!"

Maria whirled around quickly and let out a yelp. The three-headed man was _flying straight for her and Chopper,_ and there was a _huuuge_ sword in his hands!

"There's no way I'm going to be able to stop that!" Maria yelped, looking between her staff and the giant sword that was coming down with the three-headed man. She turned and ran at a high speed away from the oncoming blade while Chopper jumped back. When the sword came down, no one was in its path.

Maria turned around and looked at where the sword was embedded in the stone, swallowing when she saw the deep crack that was left where she and Chopper had been standing just seconds before. "That was close!"

"You're telling me," Chopper agreed from a short distance away from the amnesiac.

A sword suddenly came out of nowhere, but it stopped a good distance away from Maria and Chopper.

"Chopper. Nami. Maria," Zoro stated, not looking back at the trio or at the sword he was holding out. "You go on ahead. I'll take care of this thing and catch up with you in a second."

Maria glanced over at the three-headed man, blinking when she saw that only his arms and his heads were up at the landing. The rest of him was probably dangling from the platform.

The central head of the man with the large sword looked up and glared at Zoro. "Do you really think that I'm that easy to defeat? I'll teach you the meaning of fear, you little --" He tried to pull himself up onto the landing, but he wasn't able to.

One of the heads glanced back, and Maria could have sworn that she head Zambei yelling, "PULL!"

The three-headed man let out a yell as he started to slide back, obviously scrabbling for a handhold to keep him in place.

"No!" the center head yelled. "Stop it!"

"Heave-Ho! Heave-Ho! Heave-Ho!"

It was at this point that the three-headed man lost his grip on the platform and fell to the floor below. Maria, curious as to what had happened, dashed over to the edge with Chopper, Nami, and Zoro and looked down.

The Franky Family had completely surrounded the three-headed man, who was sitting on the floor and looking somewhat dazed.

"You're going to have to go through us first, Cerberus!" Zambei declared, grinning.

"Are you sure about this?" Nami called down nervously.

Zoro just gave a grin, then turned. "Come on. Let's go." He started running down the path that Sanji had taken.

"Right," Maria piped up. She quickly turned on her own heels and followed after the swordsman, Nami and Chopper quickly moving to either side of the amnesiac.

**Time Break**

Chopper let out a roar as he slammed one muscular arm into the Marines in front of him, sending then scattering in all directions -- including behind him.

Nami raised her Clima Tact and used it in order to keep them away from her. "Hey! If you have to throw them, at least don't throw them at me!"

"At least we're taking them out, right?" Maria responded, affording a glance back while holding back a Marine's sword. She slid back a couple steps and was forced to return the glare that the Marine was giving her in order to push him back into his comrades.

As soon as the group had disappeared from the Court House, Nami, Chopper, and Maria had completely lost sight of Zoro, but were by no means short of Marines. The amnesiac found it odd that Nami was deciding to stay back while forcing the reindeer and Maria to fight off their oncoming attackers, but she decided it was probably for the better -- she needed to remember how to fight, after all.

But, even though she was starting to feel good about the staff, it still felt like there was a lot missing from her fighting style....

Maria was shaken out of her thoughts when a large wrecking ball suddenly appeared out of nowhere and forced Chopper and her to stop in their tracks.

"Guilty!" The large, muscular man who had thrown the wrecking ball grinned wickedly at them. "Guilty! Guilty! Guilty!"

Maria frowned in confusion. "Guilty of what?" she barked back at him.

Meanwhile, Chopper was trying to move in front of the two girls in an effort to protect them from the giant man in front of them. However, he wasn't able to get in front of Maria because she was standing a few feet away from the wrecking ball and quite the distance away from Chopper and Nami.

"Guilty!" the man replied, grinning like a maniac.

Maria was starting to feel annoyed. Just like before, back in Water 7, it felt like she was getting warmer. But this time, it felt like there was something constricting in her chest as well -- like there was something there that absolutely _needed_ to be released.

Nami let out a growl. "Just what we need -- more weirdos!"

The man brought back his wrecking ball and started to swing it around in the air. "Guilty!"

"Let's get him, Chopper!" Nami exclaimed before quickly correcting her statement. "I mean, go get him, Chopper!"

If Maria had taken the time to notice, she would have realized that Nami's voice had somehow become slightly muted, but she didn't because of what sounded like a crackling in her ears.

"What?!" Chopper repeated in alarm. He was about to say something else, but then he noticed something going on with Maria. "O-on second thought...."

"What?" Nami followed the reindeer's gaze, only for her eyes to widen.

Maria's shoulders, arms, and staff _were on fire._

**Maria's POV**

This "Guilty" guy was really getting on my nerves. Just chanting one word over and over again with that kind of crazy look on a person's face...he looked like he was insane.

And I had had just about enough of him.

Without thinking, I swung my phoenix staff back with my right hand, leaving my left free for a moment. Then I swung forward at the man with the intent of taking him out.

What happened next was really unexpected. A _wave of fire_ came out of _nowhere_ and slammed the "Guilty" guy in the gut, sending him flying back into a nearby wall. The wrecking ball went with him and slammed into his gut where the fire hit him, and the man just collapsed.

I got the feeling that he was just knocked out, not dead, and I let out a sigh of relief.

"Thank Chaos he's out of the way," I muttered, relaxing. "I don't think I could stand looking at another ugly mug like his." I turned and looked at Chopper and Nami...but they were staring right back at me in shock.

I blinked a couple times, then shrugged. "What?"

"Maria..." Chopper hesitated, then continued speaking. "You were on fire just a second ago."

My eyes widened. "I was? Really?" I looked down at my left arm, and my eyes widened even further when I saw the small tracks of flames that were flickering on my orange jacket sleeve. "Whoa...I thought that I could do something else, but I didn't think it was going to be that."

I experimentally tried to bring up more fire just through will, and my left arm instantly burst into flames, causing Nami to let out a yelp of surprise.

A slight smirk came over my face, and I mentally forced the fire to dissipate. It faded from my left arm with no trouble at all.

"Okay, now _that_ is cool," I commented, grinning. "I can use this for long-range attacks!"

I didn't get much time to marvel at my new ability, though, because the floor started to crack below us.

"Uh...guys?" Chopper asked worriedly. "What's going on?"

"I don't know," Nami replied, "but if we don't move, we may end up being --"

The navigator never got to finish her sentence, because the floor suddenly _broke,_ releasing what looked like some kind of glowing tornado. The three of us were instantly caught up in the wind and sent flying upward while the tornado completely destroyed the floors above us.

"What caused this thing?!" I called out, not quite sure of my own directions. We were moving so fast that the world around us was a blur as dust and rocks from the destroyed stone decided to surround us.

"Zoro!" Nami yelled in anger. "I'm gonna kill him for this!"

Zoro? _He_ caused this tornado to appear out of nowhere? How?

Before I could voice my question, the wind suddenly stopped, and I was able to find out where exactly I was.

Nami, Chopper and I let out a unanimous scream when we found ourselves high above the roof of the Court House...and we were falling. I had to think of something fast, or else I was probably going to end up with a bunch of broken bones or worse.

Somehow, I managed to orient myself in the air so that I wasn't going to land on my back or my stomach. Legs could take impact with the ground the best, right? At least, that's what I remember from jumping off buildings in Water 7. I'd probably be able to handle it pretty well here the same way.

Nami seemed to have the same idea, because she had oriented herself with her feet down, too.

Somehow, though, I ended up landing _first_ on the building's roof with this weird, echo-y _thud_ that send out a couple cracks in the roof. I ended up landing in a kneeling position, though, and I wasn't exactly hurt, either, so I guessed that the cracks were because of how fast I was coming down.

"Landed!" Nami declared as she landed on the roof in the same position I was. Chopper just let out a grunt when he landed on the roof...head first.

I flinched. That _had_ to hurt. "Hey, Chopper, you okay?"

"I'm fine." Chopper's response was a little muffled, but he was a doctor, so I figured that he was probably speaking the truth.

And then I heard Luffy's voice.

"And if you still wanna die after we're all back together...well, that's your choice."

 _Die?_ My eyes widened. _Who wants to die?_

I got up to my feet, using my staff as a support while I looked around the roof. It looked like a fight had happened here earlier. Besides the hole that the tornado had made in the roof, there was what looked like some sort of giant destroyed flower pot, the collapsed form of Blueno and...

...wait. Collapsed form of Blueno? So Luffy actually managed to beat him?

My eyes trailed up to the building that was ahead of us, catching sight of Luffy standing at the edge of the building with his straw hat on and looking up himself. I couldn't really see the figures too well, but...I think I saw Lucci standing with a bunch of weirdos who were all wearing suits. I mean, it looked like one of them had long _pink_ hair and another had a _zipper_ for a mouth.

Can anything get more crazy than that in this world?

And then I saw what was going on in the sea around us. There was a _waterfall_ in the middle of the _ocean_ that was leading into a deep dark _pit_ that was directly below us.

Talk about freaks of nature! How can the island stay at sea level is there wasn't anything underneath it?!

"Ah, there we go. A lot easier than taking all those stupid stairs."

I turned around to look at the hole behind me, and I caught sight of Zoro climbing out of it with the calmest look on his face, like this was an everyday occurrence.

"There you are!" Nami started yelling at Zoro. "You're lucky the floor got in the way of that thing you did, or else we'd be dead right now!"

Zoro glanced up. "Oh. You're here, too?"

I didn't know whether to laugh or to facepalm at Zoro's reaction. Thankfully, I didn't really have time to think about a reaction to that at all, because another explosion went off further back. We all turned our heads just in time to see Sanji come flying out of the debris, foot first.

Sanji ended up doing a perfect somersault before landing on the roof near us with relative ease.

"I'm the first one here, no doubt," Sanji commented, eyes shut. "I've kept Robin waiting long enough --" He cut himself off when he looked up and saw us -- well, in particular, _one_ of us.

"Moss Head?!" Sanji roared. "What are you doing here?! You're gonna ruin everything!"

"You finally made it here," Zoro noted, grinning. "You get lost or something?"

Sanji let out a derogative laugh. "Don't you dare. Don't EVEN go there!"

I couldn't help but wonder if this was some sort of reoccurring joke among the crew members.

A loud scream caused me to look away from the two arguing men, and I caught sight of Sogeking flying up from out of _nowhere_. He ended up panicking when he started to fall, and ended up scraping his face against the stone when he finally connected with the roof.

"Sogeking!" Chopper exclaimed, dashing over to the masked Usopp. I could _clearly_ see Usopp's curly black hair and bandanna from here -- it's a wonder the reindeer doctor didn't recognize it. "Are you all right?"

"I-I'm fine," Sogeking replied in Usopp's voice, getting up and dusting himself off. He then added in his deeper voice, "It's just a scratch -- I've had worse."

"Well, you're alive," I commented, coming over. "That's what counts, right? And we're going to need all the help we can get if we're going to take on those CP9 guys."

A shudder ran down Sogeking's body, but he didn't say anything to contradict my statement.

"Come on, Robin, work with me here! You can say what you want!"

We all turned to look over at Luffy, who was still looking up at the building with the weird guys with suits on it. I started walking over to where he was standing so that I could get a closer look at what was going on. I could hear footsteps behind me, so I guessed that the others were following after me.

"If you want to die, that's fine," Luffy continued, "but when you say it, you say it as a part of our crew!"

"Yeah, Robin, he's right!" Sanji called out.

"Come back, Robin!" Chopper exclaimed.

I came to a stop near where Luffy was standing and murmured quietly, "Come on, Robin. Would you really miss out on all this? I certainly don't want to."

Luffy glanced down at me for a moment, a curious expression on his face. I smiled up at the Straw Hat and gave him a nod.

"I'm accepting your offer," I stated, a little louder this time. "The one you gave me back in Water 7. I want to join up."

Luffy gave me a grin and a thumbs-up, then turned and looked back at Robin, his face changing to a serious expression.

"Maria, come on!" Nami motioned for me to come over to her and Zoro while Chopper, Sanji, and Sogeking moved over to where I was standing behind Luffy.

I scrambled over to the navigator and the swordsman, who helped me get onto one of the green pyramid-things that was on top of the wall. I ended up finding myself standing next to Nami on one of them, my staff in my right hand while my left hand dangled at my side. I felt a determined expression come over my face as I glared up at the building in front of us -- more specifically, the guys in the suits. They were obviously CP9, which meant we were going to have to fight them. Probably.

"Robin, from now on, you can leave everything to us," Luffy stated seriously from where he stood between Zoro and Sogeking.

I had no doubt that Luffy was going to keep that promise.


	24. I Declare War Upon Thee!

"A drawbridge?" Luffy repeated, blinking a couple times as he gave Zoro a curious expression.

"Yeah. The Franky Family's trying to get it under control right now," the swordsman replied, not taking his eyes off Robin or the building in front of them. "Once they get it down, we should be able to get across, no problem."

"I just hope they don't end up running into any of those wrecking ball guys," Maria spoke up, frowning. She lifted up her staff and twirled it in her right hand expertly while one end of it was suddenly set on fire. "I'm glad I found something that I can use against them, but I doubt that anybody else can just throw fire around." The amnesiac slammed the butt of her staff into the green pyramid she was standing on next to Nami (Luffy was standing in the exact center of his, putting the rubber captain in between Sogeking and Zoro while the others stood in pairs).

Taking note of the fire that we still consuming the top of her staff, Maria took a deep breath and blew it out before adding, "Maybe I can remember a few techniques that I could use to help take CP9 out."

"It would certainly help," Nami agreed, nodding.

"What a pain," Sanji muttered. "She's right there and all we can do is stand and wait."

"CP9! Here are your orders!"

Maria flinched a little upon hearing the screechy voice. It kind of reminded her of someone bad, if the feeling in her gut was right, but she wasn't able to pinpoint the exact person...or the circumstances under which they met.

"Kill the intruders, but only engage them here at the Tower of Law!" the voice added. A crazed laugh soon followed, and Maria caught sight of one of the figures reeling about, arms thrust back a little bit while he threw his head back and laughed.

She found it odd that the person was a _guy_ who had _purple_ hair, but considering that Luffy and the others weren't making any comments about it, it probably wasn't the oddest thing that the Straw Hats had seen.

Maria made it a point to remind herself at this point that she _was_ a Straw Hat now, which meant she could probably go and throw her common sense out the window.

"Stupid pirates! You think you're so tough, but you're so idiotic that you don't know what you're getting yourselves into!"

The amnesiac stiffened upon hearing the screechy voice again, and she looked up sharply at the balcony and people above her. The other Straw Hats looked up as well, frowning expressions located on their faces.

"Open your eyes! Come on, you don't think you can beat _all_ of CP9, do you?"

Maria gritted her teeth and tightened her grip on her staff. She could feel the energy starting to build up in her chest, but she wasn't about to just release it and reveal more of the power she had regained to the people they were about to fight. After all, the amnesiac was only human, and she figured that the CP9 people were planning on giving her another Finger Pistol to the chest or something in order to make sure she stayed down.

"And what about the Gates of Justice! You don't think you can open them, do you?"

"Why would we even _want_ to?" Maria demanded softly.

"And even then, if things go wrong, I have _this!"_ The purple-haired man jumped up onto the wall around the balcony and raised a hand high above his head, causing the sunlight to reflect off an item that was sitting there. Maria wasn't able to see what it was, even when she squinted to try and block out the sunlight.

"A golden Snail Phone!" the man crowed. "With this, I have the authority to issue a Buster Call!"

Maria stiffened. "Buster Call...." Her eyes widened when she remembered what both Iceberg and Sanji had said about the matter -- ten Marine battleships, five Vice-Admirals, all attacking a single target. Or, a single _island,_ as the present situation was.

Maria couldn't help but get the feeling the man was going to end up causing a lot of trouble just with that one little golden snail.

That much damage to one island...could wipe it off the map.

"A Buster Call?" An unfamiliar, terrified voice came across the empty space, and Maria looked up to see the purple-haired man turning to look at another figure -- a woman with long, dark hair, from what the amnesiac could tell.

"Ah, yes, you would know all about that, wouldn't you, Nico Robin?" the purple-haired man sneered, turning around to look at the woman. "You witnessed its power twenty years ago, didn't you? On your home island of Ohara, is that it? It's so hard to remember that name, considering the island was completely wiped out."

"Robin's homeland...?" Chopper repeated in quiet shock.

Maria glanced over at the reindeer, frowning at the large weapon that Sogeking was now carrying -- _Since when did Usopp have a slingshot_ that _big? He didn't use it when he was fighting Luffy last night._

Just seeing the look of horror that had crossed the muscular doctor's face was enough to make Maria bite her lower lip before turning to glare back up at the purple-haired man. Her teeth clenched as she frowned so deeply one would have thought she would end up having a permanent scowl there.

"He's pissing me off," Sanji growled.

"You're not the only one who's mad," Maria responded darkly.

"Anything but that!" the woman called out. "I'm begging you!"

Now, Maria was sure that this was the Robin she had run into in Iceberg's bedroom, but this woman was a little different. More...panicked. Fearful. Like she didn't want to face her nightmares again.

Something tickled the back of Maria's mind, and she suddenly got the feeling that there was a man somewhere out in the world with hair shaped like bat's wings...and he was planning on hunting her down in order to use her for something. A shudder ran through the amnesiac as the feeling left. Whoever that was, she _definitely_ didn't want to run into him in a dark alley.

"Ooo, begging for mercy are you?" the purple-haired man sneered in response. "I like that. What's wrong? Don't want me to annihilate your little friends with a Buster Call? Is that what you're saying?"

Maria was starting to have a bad hold on her temper. A low growl escaped her throat and slipped out through her clenched teeth, causing Nami to look over at her in alarm. Maria didn't really seem to be the kind of girl who would _have_ a bad temper, but here they were, facing down CP9 and waiting for the drawbridge, and the amnesiac was _clearly_ having trouble controlling her emotions.

"You're insane," Robin replied with a shaky voice. "If you press that button, do you know what will happen?"

"This button will eliminate any possible chance of your friends ever leaving this island alive!"

Now Maria's shoulders were starting to shake from all the anger that she was trying -- and failing -- to hold in. The added headache and memory flashes weren't helping matters either.

_ "I will use this Blue Orb to summon the Legendary Pokemon and shape this planet as I see fit!" _

_ "I will use the Red Orb to lessen the world of the element we don't need!" _

_ "What have I done?" _

_ "This isn't the world that I saw in my dreams...." _

"All it takes is one little press -- it couldn't be even more simple!" the purple-haired man let out another round of cackles.

"I've had enough." Maria took in a deep breath and roared out across the empty space.

"DON'T MESS WITH THAT KIND OF POWER UNLESS YOU KNOW OF THE CONSEQUENCES YOU'RE GOING TO HAVE ON YOUR HEAD, YOU PURPLE-HAIRED MAINIC!!!"

The other Straw Hats -- except for Luffy -- looked at their new crewmember in surprise, but Maria ignored their gazes while keeping her eyes locked on Robin and the man who had been verbally tormenting her.

"I still don't remember everything about myself," Maria continued, not as loud as she had been, but still with as much force behind her voice, "but there have been people I have seen -- and stopped -- who knew they wanted power to do _something_ , but they got it _the wrong way_ and ended up nearly _destroying_ entire lands -- maybe even entire _worlds_."

Did that just come out of her mouth? Entire worlds?

Maria didn't necessarily care; the amnesiac was on a roll.

"Don't put yourself at the trigger until you've received the business end of the weapon -- or at least _seen_ it," Maria finished seriously.

"And who are you to tell me what to do?" the purple-haired man demanded, turning sharply and barking across the expanse at Maria. "You're just a stupid pirate!"

"I'm not stupid! I just have amnesia!" Maria snarled in return. "So how about you shut up before we come over there and make you eat your words?!" She shook her staff at him meaningfully.

Robin looked like she was in shock upon hearing the words that were coming out of the teenager's mouth, because it seemed to Maria that her eyes were wide and he mouth was a little open in a "jaw-dropping" action.

"You damn pirates, always thinking you're on the top of the world," the man sneered. "Maybe I _should_ press it, just to teach you all a lesson!"

There was a pause for a moment, and Maria could see the man's body shifting, like he was about press down on something.

"Stop!" Robin called suddenly out. "This isn't a joke!"

The man paused, then glared at the dark-haired woman. "I make the demands here, _wench."_

Maria felt like her blood was boiling, but she didn't really feel like yelling her heart out now. Her angry gaze moved to the members of CP9 standing nearby, and she figured that helping to take them down might be a better idea.

"Maria, you have to calm down," Nami spoke up suddenly from Maria's left. "Getting angry about this won't help."

Maria turned and looked at the orange-haired navigator. "I just...I don't like that guy. He reminds me of somebody I don't remember -- somebody that _definitely_ couldn't be trusted."

"You don't need to tell me twice," Nami responded impatiently, placing one hand on her hip, but you're not going to be able to get anywhere if you just yell. Save your strength and your anger for when we fight, but for now, _just calm down._ It's going to eat you from the inside out if you don't take a few deep breaths and relax."

Maria frowned and snorted, but then she decided to take Nami's advice into account and inhaled and exhaled a few times while forcing her body to relax. The burning feeling in her chest didn't leave, but she was starting to feel more calm.

"Better?" Nami prompted.

Maria hesitated before giving a slight nod. "A little."

"You say Ohara was wiped out," Robin stated, her shaking voice cutting through the air, "but a map can't tell you the lives of the people who lived there. Your view of the world is so _distant_ and _twisted,_ that you've lost sight of your humanity!"

Maria's teeth clenched, and she tightened her grip on her staff, but she didn't say anything or do anything other than breathe in and out through her nose. She felt like she had already said her fair share of words, so she just concentrated on breathing.

"There is a limit to how much you can sacrifice in the name of justice," Robin continued.

She collapsed out of Maria's sight, changing the amnesiac's anger to confusion and fear. Was Robin hurt in her legs or something?

"A Buster Call is going too far."

Robin's voice echoed out from where she had disappeared from, and Maria closed her eyes for a moment as another headache took her on: _a fire...cannon fire...a tree that was once filled with beautiful books with beautiful knowledge...houses destroyed by explosions...a single girl being forced to separate from the woman she called her mother and a giant she had called a friend...leaving in a rowboat from the fiery island that had once been her home...being hunted from eight years of age and onward for being called a demon...._

_....no friends wherever she goes...only those who want to exploit her or want her dead.... _

"Maria, are you _crying?"_

Maria's blue eyes blinked open, and she looked over at Nami, who was looking at the amnesiac out of concern. Absently, Maria touched her left cheek with her left hand and found wet tear tracks.

"I...I saw...." Maria swallowed, blinking rapidly in order to keep the tears back. "I saw Robin's pain....the whole _island -- gone._ I saw _everything."_

Nami's eyes widened. "Y-you did?"

"Y-yeah." Maria wasn't feeling any anger now. All she felt was _pain_ for the crew member that she hadn't officially been introduced to yet. "N-now I see why Robin doesn't want the Buster Call to go off. Everybody on the island is gonna _die_ if he gets trigger-happy." She motioned to the purple-haired man, as though that was evidence enough.

"You're sure about that." Nami's statement was meant to be a question, but it didn't come out like one.

"Do you think I would be crying if I wasn't?"

"If you trigger a Buster Call... _everything_ will be destroyed. And that includes _all_ of Enies Lobby."

Maria looked up at the building in front of her again upon hearing Robin's voice. The woman's voice was _clearly_ shaking.

"And...most likely you, as well."

"Nonsense!" the purple-haired man declared pompously. Maria could already feel some of her pain being burned away by anger, but she didn't want to lose the feeling she had gained by watching Robin's past.

"What are you saying?! They wouldn't kill a VIP like me!" the purple-.haired man sounded like he couldn't swallow what was being said to him. "I'm not falling for your bluff!"

"They killed all the non-scholars when they had been looking for the Poneglyph readers in Ohara," Maria commented under her breath, startling Nami. "I wouldn't be surprised if they decided to do the same here, in case they thought some of the Marines were helping us out. There's a lot of weight that makes it more than a bluff."

"Twenty years ago, everything was taken from me," Robin murmured. Her voice was so faint, Maria could barely make it out. "And many innocent lives were lost. With one push of a button, they summoned a terrible demon. Now it rears its ugly head, setting its sights on the friends I searched so hard to find!"

Maria cocked her head to the side as she saw Robin reappear. _Friends? Oh, yeah...that's what was said by that giant...._

"The more I want to be with you, the more my ugly fate bares its fangs at you," Robin continued at a louder volume. "Even now, no matter how far we sail, there's an enemy that will follow me at every turn! Because I am facing the world...and all of its darkness."

Maria started to fill up her lungs with air again, intent on saying something, but then she felt a hand touch her shoulder. Glancing over, she saw with some surprise that Luffy had stretched his arm around behind the others and grabbed the amnesiac. Locking her eyes with his, Maria blinked a couple times upon seeing the determined expression on his face...and sagged her shoulders while sending him an annoyed glance.

"You can yell later," was what Luffy's face seemed to be saying to the amnesiac.

Luffy gave a slight nod, then released Maria's shoulder and brought his arm back to himself with a _snap!_

"First it was Aokiji, and now CP9," Robin stated, her voice stumbling a little bit. Had she seen the interaction between Maria and Luffy? The amnesiac wasn't sure. "I've dragged you into my troubles _twice_ already! If it goes on like this, no matter how kind you may be, someday you'll see me as a burden!"

Maria flinched at that. What kind of person saw themselves as a burden so willingly?

"Someday you'll be forced to betray me and throw me away!" Robin called out. "That's what I'm most afraid of! Understand? That's why I didn't want you to rescue me! If that's the future I'm destined to have...then I'd rather die to save me the pain!"

Maria's eyebrows knit themselves together into a look of concern. She...she was really that terrified of losing her friends through the dangers? After what they had been through?

"You're a part of our crew!" Maria muttered under her breath. "What makes you think that we're just going to let you down like that?"

_ "No one is destined to be alone!" _

The purple-haired freak of a man let out a roar of ear-splitting, shrieking cackles. "Well, there you have it! Right on the mark!" He looked over at Robin. "What a sorry case, making friends only to have to drag them through the mud with you!" Another cackle followed as he looked over at the Straw Hats. "You can't win, pirates! Look at this flag!"

Maria raised an eyebrow as the man pointed dramatically upward, then glanced up with just her eyes for a moment at the triangular shaped piece of cloth, with four black circles connected together in the form of a cross and "World Govt" written underneath.

"That symbol represents the unity of over one hundred seventy nations," the man sneered. "A power that spans the Four Blues AND the Grand Line! This is the world itself! No matter how loud your bark is, you can't stand up to an enemy like that! Just face facts already! Do you realize how strong our organization is? Do you realize how devoted we are to capturing her?!"

Maria gritted her teeth. The more the purple-haired freak talked, the more flashes she got of a strange figure with glowing red eyes and a sneer that was _begging_ to have his face kicked in. She started twirling her staff out of her sheer impatience to go across the empty space between them and Robin, just so that she could smash the man's teeth in for acting so high-and-mighty.

"Sogeking. Maria." Luffy's voice, though spoken at a low volume, cut through the air like a scythe. "Shoot down that flag."

"Roger," Sogeking replied.

"With pleasure," Maria intoned. She started to move into a crouch-like position, her staff moving more behind her than next to her. Already, there was fire on her phoenix staff, and it looked like it wasn't just on the head anymore -- the entire thing was on fire.

"This is my new weapon by the name of Kabuto!" Sogeking declared, taking hold of the large staff-slingshot that he had been carrying over his shoulder. "Behold its power! Special Attack, Firebird Star!"

Sogeking pulled back and released a large stream of fire from the slingshot. Not long after it had been released, the fire turned into what literally looked like a bird of some kind.

Surprise crossed Maria's face for a moment, but then a slight headache came and went, and a rather dangerous grin appeared on her face moments later.

"You're not the only one with surprises!" Maria called out. The twirling of her staff increased, and then she threw her right arm forward, keeping a tight grip on her staff. "Fire Sphere!"

A ball of fire, made of all the flames that had been on her staff, came flying off the phoenix head and flew up to the flag. The Fire Sphere connected with the World Government symbol at the same time that the Firebird Star did, sending the white flag into a bright, burning blaze while a shockwave of fire was sent in all directions, high above the island.

"Bullseye!" Maria exclaimed triumphantly, letting her right hand drift to her side, the staff dangling from her fingers, while she fist-pumped with her left.

"Mission Complete," Sogeking stated coolly from where he stood next to Luffy.

"You morons are going to die!" the purple-haired man roared. "You can't expect yourselves to challenge the world and win!"

"Oh, yeah?!" Luffy yelled back. "BRING IT ON!!!"

The purple-haired man let out a scream of terror at Luffy's roar of anger. Maria found herself grinning from ear to ear at his reaction.

"Robin!" The captain turned his attention to the woman, now. "There's still something I want to hear you say!"

Maria turned her head and gave Luffy a curious look, wondering what it was he wanted now.

"TELL ME YOU WANNA LIVE!!!"

Maria's eyes widened when she heard Luffy say that, and she turned quickly to look up at Robin. While the amnesiac couldn't see her too well, it seemed to her that the woman was in complete shock upon hearing Luffy's cry.

"Robin...." Nami murmured from where she stood next to Maria.

"Come on, Robin," Maria murmured quietly, closing her eyes and tightening her grip on her staff. "It can't end like this."

There was a moment of silence while Maria kept her eyes shut, but then....

"I WANT TO LIVE!! TAKE ME WITH YOU!! TAKE ME AWAY FROM HERE!!!"

Maria's eyes snapped open, and she looked up at the balcony, which Robin was now leaning over as she yelled at the top of her lungs and looked down at the rest of her crew. A grim sort of determination came over her face, and Maria shifted her staff into both her hands. Flames flickered along her orange jacket sleeves for a moment, but those soon dissipated in preparation for the battles ahead.

"We will, Robin," Maria promised quietly to herself. "You can count on it."

"Let's go," Luffy stated, his voice accompanied by the sound of cracking knuckles.

As if the black-haired captain had spoken the magic words, there came the sound of something shifting below them. Maria looked down, and her eyes widened before a grin came over her face.

"Look!" Chopper called out. "The drawbridge is lowering!"

"Our reinforcements pulled it together after all," Sanji commented. "And just in time, too."

"I-I'm t-t-trembling with excitement," Sogeking stated, his entire body seeming to have a case of the shivers.

"Come on, hurry it up," Zoro muttered impatiently. Maria glanced over at the swordsman and saw that he was in a crouch, one hand on his swords as an eager grin appeared on his face.

"You're looking scary, Zoro," Nami stated in a warning tone.

Maria looked Zoro over, frowning. She wouldn't say he looked _scary._ Maybe more...battle-ready. Unless that's what Nami thought _was_ scary.

"Hey, Robin!" Luffy called up again. "We'll save you, no matter what!"

Maria nodded in agreement and got into a crouch so that she could jump down and land on the drawbridge as soon as it was fully bridging the gap between them and the "Tower of Law," as the purple-haired freak had called it. The teen planted the butt of her staff on the green stone under her feet so that she could use it as leverage, and rested her left hand on her knee as she looked down.

"No! Stay away!" the purple-haired man called out in fear.

Then a sudden explosion came in from out of _nowhere,_ causing the drawbridge's movements to come to a shaky halt...about halfway folded out.

"What just happened?!" Sanji demanded. Maria could tell that he was just as shocked as she was -- and everybody else for that matter.

"Damn those Marines!" Luffy declared. "They really piss me off! STOP GETTING IN THE WAY!"

"We've got it, Chief Spandam!" A voice called up from below -- Maria knew it was familiar, but couldn't quite place where she had heard it before, so she brushed it off as another random Marine. "Now, evacuate the Tower of Law!"

"Good advice!" the purple-haired man called back. "And now we can make it to the Gates of Justice without any problems!" He turned and jumped off the wall and onto the balcony, where he grabbed Robin.

"Spandam, huh?" Maria repeated, frowning. "More like Span- _dumb._ "

"And somebody grab Cutty Flam and bring him, too!" Spandam added.

Maria blinked. Cutty Flam? What kind of name was _that?_

"Robin!" Chopper called out.

"I've got the two people I need to revive the ancient weapon -- the only person who can read the Poneglyphs, Nico Robin, and the only person with the blueprints to _build_ a weapon, Cutty Flam!"

Spandam let out a crazed laugh, and Maria scowled up at him as the purple-haired freak turned and started moving away from the balcony, only to stop short.

"Eh? What do you want?" Spandam asked in an annoyed tone.

Maria glanced over to her left a little bit so that she could see who Span- _dumb_ was staring at. She couldn't quite make it out from where she was standing, but it looked like the person the man was staring at had bright turquoise hair.

The turquoise-haired man moved one of his arms up. It almost looked like he was holding something.

"No...it can't be...." Spandam sounded like he had been struck speechless. "Those aren't the _real_ blueprints for Pluton, are they?"

"Pluton?" Maria repeated softly, frowning as she rose up from her crouch.

"Oh, they're real," came the reply. "Don't believe me? Oi, Lucci, Kaku, you guys should be able to read this, right?"

If anything else was said, Maria wasn't able to catch it, but she did see Sandam's reaction.

"S-so, they _are_ real?" Spandam stuttered. "Really real? That's great, cause it saves me the trouble of searching for them!" The purple-haired man started to reach out for the whatever-it-was that the other man was holding.

"Nico Robin."

Spandam stopped short when the turquoise-haired man spoke up again.

"I gotta admit, the rumors I heard about you were as wrong as they could be. While we were being dragged to this scrap hole, I realized that you weren't the monster who was going to use the ancient technology to destroy the world."

Maria frowned. She couldn't help but shake the feeling that the man was somehow familiar, but she wasn't exactly sure _how_ familiar to her he was. She could have just passed him in the docks of Water 7 and never looked twice for all she knew. But the words he was saying...was what he was holding really the ancient weapon's blueprints -- the ones CP9 had been going after Iceberg for?

"I know that the shipwrights of Water 7 have been passing down these blueprints from generation to generation. We're not doing it to revive a weapon."

"I should hope not," Maria muttered.

"Hey, Spanda. The reason that Tom and Iceberg risked their lives to protect the weapon was that so they could keep it out of reach of greedy power-loving mongrels like you. If it did fall into those kind of hands, who knows what might happen? In other words, the shipwrights passed this down in order to create a counter-measure against _another_ type of weapon."

_ Another _ weapon? Maria couldn't believe her ears. She didn't think that there could be more than one weapon that could be used to destroy the world!

"Now, I agree that Robin's a dangerous woman. But with people like you around, even if she has the best intentions, her knowledge could be used to destroy the entire world. But now she's got friends who are willing to risk their lives to make sure that _never_ happens, and I think that they're up to the job. So I'm going to make a little bet."

Maria cocked her head to one side. _A bet?_

"Now that everything's gone to hell, I have to get a little creative, if I want to uphold the decision of the original architects," the man continued.

"Just shut up and hand them over already!" Spandam called out. "Those blueprints are mine!"

"Bit selfish, aren't you?" Maria asked dryly.

And then something truly unexpected happened. Maria saw the turquoise-haired man take in a breath, then shoot out a _flamethrower_ that instantly set whatever it was in his hands ablaze.

"Whoa! He can breath fire?" Maria asked, wide-eyed out of surprise.

Spandam let out a startled yell. "What the hell are you doing?!" He collapsed onto his knees -- Maria supposed, because he disappeared below the wall. "My dream...it's been burned to a crisp!"

"Serves him right," Maria commented, scowling. She folded her arms across her chest, holding her staff at an angle in front of her in order to keep it in her grip.

"The only reason we were keeping those blueprints was to create a counter-measure," the turquoise-haired man explained. "So if you took them away, that would defeat the purpose, and we won't be able to fight back if you do manage to make a weapon. Now that it's come to this, destroying them is all I can do. I'd rather sacrifice my own plan then help you with yours. If you end up making a weapon after all, we won't be able to fight back anymore. I've placed my bet on the Straw Hats that they'll be able to stop you, and I think they can do it."

"Big Bro!" came a bellow from below.

The sudden sound of Zambei's voice made Maria jump in alarm, causing her arms to drop to her sides.

"We're down here!" Zambei called out. His cry was quickly followed by the other members of the Franky Family, calling out to one of the figures that was standing on the balcony. "We came with the Straw Hats!"

Maria frowned in confusion down in the general direction where Zambei was calling from, then lifted her head and looked up at the balcony. There was the CP9 guys...Span-dumb...Robin...the guy with the turquoise hair....

Wait a second. The guy with the turquoise hair must have been the Big Bro Zambei called out to, because there definitely wasn't anybody else -- and besides, he had moved to the edge of the balcony and was looking down at the partially opened drawbridge!

"Sodom and Gomorrah fought hard, too!" Zambei added. "We're all gonna go home together! I promise!"

"I didn't ask ya to save me...but you still came!"

Maria looked at Franky in alarm when he suddenly started bawling his eyes out. Was he really that emotional that seeing his underlings reduced him to that?

"I'm not cryin'...ya hear me, you bastards? I'm not cryin'!"

"You say that and yet you clearly are," Maria commented, frowning.

Nami just rolled her eyes and snorted. "Boys. Always trying to be manly."

"SHUT UP!! THAT'S ENOUGH!!!"

Maria, Nami, and Zoro turned their heads sharply to look at Luffy, who had yelled at the top of his lungs down to the Franky Family below...who promptly shut themselves up. "Whoa, Luffy! Calm down!"

"Robin's waiting! Hurry up and bring down the bridge!" Luffy bellowed, ignoring the three.

"Oh, yeah, that's right," Zoro commented. Then _he_ leaned over and started yelling. "What are you waiting for?!"

"Yeah, you'd better get that thing moving!" Nami added, looking just as annoyed. "You'd better not make me come down there!"

Maria glared at the two. "And you were telling _me_ to calm down before when I yelled at Span-dumb. What is _with_ you guys?"

"Wow, Nami, you're sexy when you boss people around!" Sanji called out. Maria resisted the urge to facepalm.

"Hey, Straw Hat!" Franky's voice shot through the air, getting the crew's attention.

"Thanks for helping out my men while I was gone," Franky continued. "But now that the gang's all hear, the one and only Franky will show you just how super he can be!"

"I don't need your help!" Luffy barked back. "I'm still mad about what you did to Usopp, so don't think that we're friends!"

Sogeking looked over at Luffy, but Maria couldn't see the masked Usopp's expression, so she couldn't tell if the long-nosed teen was happy or not.

"I'm gonna make you PAY!" Spandam suddenly roared loudly.

And just like that, Franky was pushed off the balcony and out into the air, where he promptly started to fall into the hole below the island.

"Uh-oh!" Maria yelped. "This isn't good!"

"FRANKY!" Sogeking exclaimed in a panic.

"Hey, Straw Hats!"

Maria and Nami blinked in surprise before looking at the article of clothing the navigator had hidden the Snail Phone in.

Nami quickly pulled out the snail. "Granny Kokoro?"

"I heard everything. Why are you all just standing around?"

"The drawbridge is kaput," Maria replied, leaning over a little so that she could look at the snail a little better. "There's no way we're going to be able to get across that way now."

"It's halfway down, isn't it?"

Maria glanced down at the drawbridge below them. "About there, maybe, but --"

"That's more than enough. I'll be there in about four seconds! Jump into the waterfall and give it all you've got!"

"What?!" Nami asked in shock.

"Trust me!"

"Was that Monster Granny?" Luffy asked, looking over. "What did she say?"

"She said to jump into the waterfall," Maria replied, frowning. "I'm kind of wondering why she'd ask us to do that, though."

In the distance, there suddenly came the sound of a loud whistle, causing Maria's ears to twitch a little. "A train?"

"Huh, it's the Sea Train," Luffy noted. He looked over at Sogeking, who reacted with a nervous sound in his voice.

"What's with that devious chuckle of yours, Luffy?" the masked Usopp asked with a squeak of nervous terror in his voice.

"Uh-oh!"

Maria looked over at Zoro, who was sending a nervous look in his captain's direction. The amnesiac blinked a couple times when she saw that Luffy's arms were stretching out behind all of them, and she glanced to her right when she felt Luffy's right arm wrap itself around her stomach.

"What's going on?" Maria asked, frowning out of concern. She could feel Luffy's arm shifting a little bit behind her, but didn't really think much of it.

"Let's go!"

Something _pushed_ Maria from behind -- or pulled her forward, it was hard to tell -- and the amnesiac and everybody else were suddenly sent falling into the open expanse below the island.

Maria let her staff disappear in favor of holding onto Luffy's arm as tightly as she dared, her eyes widening as she looked down into the bottomless pit that was below the island. Then she heard a familiar sound, and her eyes drifted over to the drawbridge...where she saw the Rocket Man, bent nose and all, shooting up the wooden construct like it was some kind of ramp.

But the Straw Hats were too far ahead of the train to be able to land on it...or so Maria thought.

Rocket Man shot up off the drawbridge, careening into the air at a high speed. Maria found herself tightening her grip on Luffy as they got closer to the Sea Train...and she ended up landing right on top of the train itself. As soon as her captain let go, the amnesiac hunkered down as best she could and gripped at the metal in an attempt to keep herself from flying off. When she started to feel her red and orange baseball cap loosen, she immediately clamped onto it with her left hand in order to make sure that it actually _stayed on her head._

"WE'RE GONNA CRASH!!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs as the train careened towards the Tower of Law.

Maria's eyes widened as she saw the stone walls coming forward to meet them, and she screwed her eyes shut tightly and tightened her grip while she gritted her teeth.

_ Please let me live. Please let me live. Please let me live, _ Maria mentally chanted as fast as her racing heartbeat.

And then came a loud explosion of sound. Maria could feel the shockwaves going through the train and could hear the sound of rocks breaking around them, but she refused to open her eyes, instead squeezing them more tightly as her grip tightened and she gritted her teeth. However, that didn't exactly work out -- Maria's right hand slipped, sending her flying off the train and into the air. She could hear the yells of her crewmates around her, but Maria wasn't about to look around.

Maria rammed into something and was sent skidding across the ground before ramming into something behind her, causing the teen to come to an abrupt halt.


	25. Tower of Law

Maria shook her head and cracked one eye open when she stopped moving, then opened the other the rest of the way out of completely surprise.

The train was lying among the debris of the stone wall they had come flying through, and none of the Straw Hats were in sight of the train. In fact, Maria found herself mildly amazed that she'd managed to go sliding the distance she did without getting hit in the head hard enough to give her a concussion or something.

Cautiously, Maria got to her feet, then made sure her red and orange baseball cap was securely on her head before dusting off her jeans, red shirt, and orange jacket. As she dusted herself off, her eyes scanned the dark room: high ceilings, simple pillars of some kind...and a general sense of foreboding.

"Hey, Granny! Are you okay?! Talk to me, will ya? Just what the hell did you think you were doing?!"

Maria turned her head upon hearing Franky's voice, and her eyes widened when she saw him shaking the forms of Chimney and Kokoro, who were lying flat on their faces.

The amnesiac started running over to where Franky was kneeling. She didn't like or dislike the turquoise-haired man, really -- she didn't know what to think of him, what with this being the first time the two had met -- but Kokoro and Chimney were a completely different matter. The two of them had helped out enough times that Maria didn't want them to die here -- besides, Robin wasn't really _their_ friend; they'd opted to help completely on their own.

"Pulling a flat-out stupid stunt with Rocket Man like that," Franky continued, looking back and forth between the girl and the old woman. "I-I mean, thanks for saving us and all...hey, can't you hear me? Get up! Please, don't die on me!"

Maria reached Franky and the two unconscious figures just as Kokoro, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit got up from where they had been lying. The amnesiac saw a trail of blood go down from one side of all three's noses.

"Bloody noses," Kokoro and Chimney stated together.

"You're lucky a bloody nose is all you got!" Franky barked at them.

"They were riding _in_ the train, though, so they didn't get hit as badly with the debris as we did," Maria pointed out, looking at Franky.

"Eh? Oh, yeah -- I guess you're right." Franky smirked for a moment, but then he looked Maria up and down and frowned. "You look kinda familiar somehow."

Maria blinked in confusion, frowning. "I do? But we haven't met before."

"Maybe not face to face." Franky got up to his feet. "But I think I saw you hanging around Dock 1 a couple times when I came with my bros to drop off some lumber that could be reclaimed." His frown deepened for a moment, and then he snapped his fingers. "Oh, yeah! Maria, right? That little amnesia-ridden kid?"

Maria blinked a couple times. "Uh...yeah, that's right."

"Pleasure to meet ya, kid. Name's Franky, head of the Franky Family." Franky held out a hand, which Maria shook out of respect.

"Maria, but you already knew that."

"YEAH! We made it!" Luffy roared, rising out of a pile of rubble.

"Guess he's fine," Franky commented dryly, looking over at the black-haired teen as Maria turned to look in his direction.

"Well, Luffy's made of rubber, so the impact mustn't have affected him all that much," Maria remarked, shrugging. Her eyes scanned the rest of the rubble around them. "Everyone else, though...."

"Come on, you guys! Get up! You've been through worse than that!"

Maria blinked when she saw that Luffy was yelling down at the rubble in front of him. From where she was standing, she could just barely make out what looked like one arm from each of the people Luffy had dragged in with him -- excluding the amnesiac, who had ended up getting thrown in a different direction.

"Luffy, we're kinda not made of rubber like you are!" Maria called out to her captain.

"So?" Luffy shrugged, then started walking over. As soon as he had left the pile of rubble, Chopper, Sogeking, Zoro, Nami, and Sanji burst up out from under the rubble, all yelling like they were mad. "See? I told you they were fine."

"Honestly, you guys are all a bunch of weirdos," Franky commented, his arms crossed over his chest. "I just felt like I should point that out."

"Hey, it looks like there's a staircase over there," Luffy remarked, looking around Franky.

Maria turned her head and looked back, blinking a couple times when she saw the stone stairs that led upwards. "That probably leads into the rest of the tower," she noted. "It could be our way up to Robin."

"We'd better move it if we're going to find her," Luffy stated in a determined tone.

Maria could hear the slap of his sandals, and then she caught sight of him running past towards the stairs. The amnesiac decided to do the same and started running after him, with the others following close behind.

"Not so fast!"

The group came to a stop when an unfamiliar voice reached their ears. Maria looked around for a moment in order to find the source, then caught sight of a figure far above them in a corner of the ceiling.

"What the hell is that?" Luffy asked, eyes wide in confusion.

"It's the fat green guy with the zipper lips who was on the balcony with the CP9 guys!" Maria identified. "He's one of them!"

"Cha-pa-pa-pa-pa. So, you've finally made it to the Tower of Law," Zipper Lips noted. "There's no point in going on. You won't find Nico Robin -- Lucci's already taken her to the Gates of Justice."

Maria stiffened while Nami, who was standing nearby, let out a soft gasp.

"Oh, and the Chief's with them, too," Zipper Lips added in a condescending tone.

"Oh, really?" Nami replied a knowing smirk crossing her face. "Thanks for telling us where we should start looking!"

Zipper Lips' face shifted to one of disappointment. "Cha-pa-pa. Why'd I tell them that?"

"He's not too bright," Chopper noted.

"I think that's why they added the zipper to his lips," Maria commented, making a motion as though she was zipping her own mouth shut.

Chopper glanced over at the amnesiac and gave a nod. "Yeah, that makes sense."

"It doesn't matter," Zipper Lips declared. "I may have told you where they're headed, but I'm _not_ gonna tell you how to get there. And you'll never make it past our CP9 agents -- we've been given direct orders to eliminate you, cha-pa-pa."

"Ah, great," Maria muttered under her breath. "We're gonna get a death match."

"If you want Nico Robin, you're going to have to fight through every one of our agents if you plan to succeed," Zipper Lips continued.

"Duh," Luffy replied, sounding somewhat annoyed. "I liked it better when you were telling us things we didn't already know."

"Cha-pa-pa. You've got some fire in you. But, I've got one more thing to tell you." Zipper Lips removed a hand from the wall and raised one finger.

"Say it already!" Luffy responded. "We're listening!"

"Ah --" Zipper Lips looked surprised upon hearing Luffy's statement. "W-well, thank you." He went digging around in his suit with his free hand. "Just gimme a sec. Take a look at this!" He pulled out the item he seemed to have been looking for, and Maria frowned as she looked at it.

"A key?" Chopper noted, frowning as well.

"What's it for?" Sanji asked.

"For all you know, it might be the key needed to unlock Robin's Sea Stone handcuffs!" Zipper Lips replied haughtily.

Maria frowned. "Sea Stone...isn't that the stone that acts like the sea?" The amnesiac turned to look at Nami, who gave a nod in response. "Why would Robin be wearing those?"

"Robin's a Devil Fruit user, like Luffy and Chopper," the orange-haired navigator explained.

"Really?"

"Well, now we know why Robin hasn't been fighting back," Chopper noted, turning to look over at Maria and Nami. "I knew it wasn't adding up!"

"Yeah," Sanji agreed. "She's not one to give up so easily. I'm sure she'd be mopping the floor with their ugly mugs if she had the choice."

"She must feel so helpless," Chopper muttered quietly.

"That sucks," Franky commented.

"Even if you were able to get past us and save her in some imaginary world," Zipper Lips continued, "that Sea Stone is tougher than a diamond. She'd have to live with them on her wrists for the rest of her life."

"Tougher than a diamond?" Maria repeated, amazed. "That's...that's a pretty tough rock. How were they even able to _make_ the handcuffs if it's that tough?"

"Cha-pa-pa...why do I keep telling them this stuff?" Zipper Lips moaned.

"He really _is_ dumb, isn't he?" Chopper asked, shaking his head at the sight.

"So, be my guest! Go and try to save her if you can! Cha-pa-pa-pa-pa."

"Fine!" Luffy barked back. Maria watched him throw his arm back, then bring it forward towards the man up in the corner. "Give me that key!"

A grin appeared on Maria's face as she watched Luffy's fist zoom up to Zipper Lips, clearly intended to punch him in the face. However, seconds before the two could connect, Zipper Lips suddenly disappeared from sight and Luffy's fist hit the wall before the captain brought it back.

Maria's grin fell as her eyes widened in surprise. "What _was_ that? Did he eat like a...a Speed Devil Fruit or something?"

"No," Nami replied with a shake of her head. "This is just another one of those powers of theirs. Like the Finger Pistol Lucci hit you with."

Maria spluttered out of surprise. "Seriously? He trained his body to move that fast?"

"Seems like it." Nami's voice and facial expression were grim.

"Guess all the members of CP9 can use that move," Luffy muttered, annoyed.

"Don't be hasty."

Maria whirled around when she heard Zipper Lips' voice, and she caught sight of him standing with his back to them.

"You don't know if what I've got is the real key or not," Zipper Lips continued.

"The _real_ key?" Maria repeated, blinking.

"YOU HAVE GOT TO BE FREAKING KIDDING ME!" the others around the amnesiac barked.

"It might be the key to another pair of cuffs for all you know, cha-papa-papa!" Zipper Lips sang out as he started to spin around on one foot. "In this great Tower of Law!"

Maria gained an annoyed expression. "That guy has a _really_ bad singing voice."

"Yeah, no kidding," Sanji agreed. "Even _Moss-Head_ has a better voice than he does, and that's saying something."

"Hey!" Zoro turned sharply to glare at the cook. "You've never even _heard_ me sing!"

"Well, I'm guessing that it's got to be pretty bad then, if you've made a point not to!"

"Who says I decided against it?!"

"Guys!" Maria quickly got between the two of them and pointed at the ball-shaped CP9 agent. "He could still spill something!"

Zipper Lips suddenly jumped up into the air, somehow managing to stay elevated by just kicking his feet as though he was jumping on solid ground. "There are five members of CP9 with keys, including me!"

"So, are you saying we have to beat every one of you guys and try all the keys on her handcuffs?" Zoro demanded. "And that's the _only_ way we're going to find the real one?"

"What a stupid way to keep us busy," Sanji muttered. "While we're wasting time on your key-hunting game, your chief is going to have made it through the Gates of Justice with Robin."

"That's exactly the plan! Ugh, why can't I keep my mouth shut?!"

"Retrieving Robin is our first priority," Nami stated while Zipper Lips continued to climb higher into the air. Maria watched him go with some nervousness; these CP9 guys were going to be a lot of trouble if they could do _that_ without needing a Devil Fruit. At all.

"If we focus on getting Robin first, we can worry about getting the keys afterward," Nami continued. "Let's just ignore that weirdo and start searching!"

"Cha-pa...Cha-pa-pa-pa-pa. Hey! You've got some brains! But I'm afraid that if you do that, you'll leave me with no choice! I'll toss this key into the ocean! Cha-pa-pa-pa-pa!"

Maria glared up at the zipper-lipped ball of a man and growled in annoyance while the others gasped.

"We're kind enough to give you guys a sporting chance, though, so I'll see ya later!" With that, Zipper Lips took off through the air and out of sight.

"Hey! Get back here!" Luffy started running after the man, but his right cheek was grabbed by Zoro, keeping him from going to far.

"Hold on!" the swordsman barked. "Could you just hang on a sec?!"

Luffy just continued yelling in rage as he continued running forward, causing Zoro to slide on the stone. Sogeking dashed over and tried to pull Luffy into a stop, but that didn't necessarily work out too well, either.

"Stop running and listen to me!" Zoro yelled at his captain. "Let's decide what we're gonna do before we split up!"

"Shut up and just let me go!" Luffy yelled back. His speech was a bit contorted because Zoro was holding onto his cheek, but the angry words came through loud and clear anyway.

"Get a hold of yourself, Straw Hat!" Sogeking ordered in his lower-octave voice.

"I'm guessing Lucci's that pigeon guy?"

Maria turned her head from watching Zoro and Sogeking struggle with Luffy and looked over at Sanji, who was sending Franky a curious look.

"Yup," Franky replied, smirking.

"From what that other guy told us, he's the only one who's guarding Robin," the chef commented. "Our best bet is to send Luffy after them."

"Since he claimed dibs on Lucci," Maria commented, nodding in agreement.

"Luffy, since you're raring to go, you can hunt down that pigeon guy!" Sanji called over to the rubber captain, who was still struggling with Zoro and Sogeking, who were _both_ pulling at his face now in an attempt to keep Luffy in place.

Maria absently rubbed a cheek and wondered if Luffy could actually get hurt that way. Rubber bands did eventually snap if you pulled on them too hard.

"Excluding Luffy, we've got a head count of seven," Sanji continued, looking back at the others.

"But Zipper Lips said that only five CP9 agents have keys," Maria spoke up, recalling what the round man had said a few moments ago.

Sanji gave a nod. "So I say we spread out, take them down, and catch up with Luffy."

The others nodded in agreement to the cook's statement.

"If they drag her through those gates, we'll never get her back!" Sogeking called back to the others. "It's a race against time!"

"Then let's get going!" Zoro declared. He let go of Luffy's cheek, sending the rubber captain charging forward and Sogeking to the ground from the resulting force Luffy ran off with. "Let's take 'em down, or die trying!"

"YEAH!" Maria and the others agreed. Then they took off after Luffy and started up the stairs and deeper into the Tower of Law.


	26. On with the scavenger hunt!

Maria and Chopper walked down the dark hallway -- Maria with her staff and the reindeer in Heavy Point -- occasionally opening doors to see if there was anybody hiding behind them.

"This is getting to be weird," Maria commented, frowning as she opened a door for what seemed like the umpteenth time, only to find the inside dark and without any occupants within. "I mean, how are we supposed to find those agents when they aren't hanging around here?"

"I don't know," Chopper murmured in reply, shaking his head as he closed the door he had just opened. "Do you think it's possible that the others have managed to find them already?"

"Maybe." Maria closed her door, then looked over at the doctor and shrugged. "I mean, there are seven of us, so it's possible the others managed to find them."

"But then...that would mean _we_ wouldn't have to fight them, right?" Chopper's eyes sparked with a look that appeared to be hopeful relief.

Maria shrugged again. "I don't know. We could still end up running into one of them."

Chopper's face fell a little, and he looked a little nervous. He found a nearby door and opened it a crack before sighing and closing it again.

Maria frowned slightly, and cocked her head to one side. "You don't like fighting, do you?"

"Not...not like this." Chopper motioned to the hallway and the doors around them. "Regular Marines, I can handle fighting, but I don't really want to then, either."

"Is it because you're a doctor?"

"Um...er...." Chopper paused for a moment, rubbing the back of his head. "While I don't like seeing people get hurt, I kinda have to deal with it because I'm a pirate. I mean, I've helped in a Marine infirmary once, but that's probably the only time that I've actually helped the enemy. Besides, I'm kinda weaker than everybody else is."

Maria took in the doctor's statement, then frowned slightly. "I think you're actually pretty strong," she commented. "I mean, with the crew as small as it is, you'd have to be able to hold your own in order to survive."

"Yeah, I guess that's true." Chopper gave Maria a slight smile, then started moving forward again, the amnesiac keeping in step next to him. "So, what about you? I saw that fire attack you used earlier on the flag with Sogeking. You'd have to be pretty strong in order to use that."

Maria gained an embarrassed expression and rubbed the back of her head. "You really think so?"

"Yeah! How else do you think you can do all that stuff without using a Devil Fruit?"

Maria frowned curiously, then shrugged. "I don't know. I was born with it, maybe? I haven't been able to remember anything from I was born to when I first ended up among those Pokemon creatures. And I haven't even remembered all the time I spent with them yet, either."

Chopper frowned. "You mean...you don't think that you were born or grew up with them?"

"That's the feeling I'm getting. I'm not really able to explain it too well, though. It's like...I know I don't actually live with them, but I don't know why that is." Maria rubbed her head quietly. "It's really weird."

"Well, like I said before, amnesia isn't something that a doctor can just make go away." Chopper paused when he saw a door and opened it, peering inside for a moment before shutting it again. "Unless we can find someone or something that can help jog your memory, you're going to have to try and recover your memories on your own."

Maria nodded in agreement. "Since I'm new to the crew, you mind if I ask you something about the others?"

"Not at all!" Chopper gave Maria a grin.

"Why is it that Zoro and Sanji are almost always at each others' throats? You'd think that they'd want to see each other dead or something."

Chopper snorted out of amusement, then shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "That's just Sanji and Zoro for you. I think they've been butting heads every single day since they met. It's like they barely tolerate each other...except when they're in battle. Their teamwork then can be so in sync that it's scary!"

"Really? I think I'd like to see that sometime -- I mean, considering that they've been yelling at _each other_ quite a few times since I first met them. Seeing them work together with that kind of power would have to be devastating."

Chopper gave Maria a strange look when she said that. "That...you sound like you _want_ to fight."

Maria made an embarrassed noise, then shrugged helplessly. "I'm not really sure myself. There's still a lot about me that I don't know anything about, but from how my body's reacting and what I can remember from when I was interacting with the Pokemon, I ended up getting into a lot of fights, so I have to be pretty strong, right?"

"Probably...."

In the back of her mind, something caused Maria's mind to throb a little, and she shook her head as a flash of memory came through her mind: _Maria, in the form of a six-tailed fox, glaring up at a four-legged figure who was colored in blue and steel gray...except for the glowing orange gem in the center of its chest._

Maria shook her head as the vision cleared, rubbing the side of her head with her left hand.

"That thing you yelled about before."

"Hmmm?" Maria looked over at Chopper curiously.

"Out there, when we were waiting for the drawbridge to come down," the doctor explained quickly. "You mentioned something about going up against people like the government agents before -- people who didn't know what sort of power they were using until they were attacked by it."

Maria blinked a couple times, then gave a nod. "Yeah. From what I can remember, there was something about a couple guys who wanted to change the world to either have more land or more sea, and there was an evil Pokemon who tired to cause the world to descend into darkness. There were others, too, I think, but those are the ones that I can remember most clearly right now."

"B-but that doesn't make any sense!"

Maria frowned in confusion. "What do you mean?"

Chopper frowned as well, looking down the hall ahead of them for a moment before looking back at the blue-eyed amnesiac. "Well, I haven't heard anything about any weather problems...or anything about those Pokemon creatures, for that matter. It doesn't seem to be possible what you've described to us as a result of the memories you've gained. I mean, creatures that can use Devil Fruit abilities without even _eating_ a Devil Fruit? It doesn't seem possible."

"Well, I don't know what to tell you," Maria responded, shrugging. She started moving forward again, eyeing the doors with a cautious, suspicious frown.

"It could be that the memories are fabricated," Chopper suggested, moving to catch up with the amnesiac. "Someone could have made you lose your memory and tricked your mind into replacing your memories with fake ones that don't make sense."

"Then how do you explain this?" Maria looked over at Chopper and raised the staff in her right hand. "Because I obviously haven't eaten a Devil Fruit."

Chopper opened his mouth as though to respond, but then he frowned and gained what looked like a thoughtful expression before it changed to a frustrated glare.

"Even if my memories may be fabricated, it's the only thing that could hint at who I am right now," Maria stated seriously. "And besides, my visions have been coming up with correct events, so my memories are probably right somehow."

Chopper blinked a couple times upon seeing the serious expression on the amnesiac's face. "Well, we won't know for sure until we run into something that could confirm your memories."

"I guess." Maria shrugged one shoulder. "You said you guys got amnesia before, right? You kinda passed over that one pretty quickly when you were telling me about your adventures the other night."

"Well, we weren't in that state for too long, luckily. It got pretty scary when the seahorse that took our memories decided to hypnotize Zoro into attacking Luffy."

"Wait, what? A seahorse actually did that?" Maria blinked a couple times. "Did _it_ eat a Devil Fruit?"

Chopper blinked a couple times, then frowned. "Well, I remember that it was able to swim when Zoro was trying to catch and kill it for what it did, so it probably didn't."

"Which means that the hypnotizing and memory-stealing was a natural ability," Maria noted thoughtfully.

"Yeah, I guess so." Chopper's eyes widened after a moment. "Wait -- a _natural_ ability? But then...that means there could be some other animals out there who were born with abilities like that, too!"

"And maybe people?" Maria prodded, grinning.

"...Maybe. Humans usually have to use their brains because they don't have any natural abilities, but I have to wonder with some people...."

"Like Sanji and Zoro, right? What's up with the two of them? Why did Nami ask you to make medicine for the cook?"

"Hmm?" Chopper blinked a couple times before giving a knowing smirk. "Zoro's got a bad sense of direction for some reason, and nobody knows why. Even if we give him directions -- shoot, even if we're _leading_ him -- he still somehow gets himself lost sometimes."

Maria let out a bark of laughter. "Wow! That _is_ bad!"

"As for Sanji...." Chopper trailed off for a moment before shaking his head. "Sanji's always acted like he's in love with every single woman he meets -- and that includes Nami and Robin. Nami actually used it to her advantage sometimes, because she can get Sanji to do whatever she wants him to. Robin just ignores him." The muscular reindeer-man glanced over at Maria with a curious expression. "What do you think of him?"

"Well, I'm not too sure on the whole 'falling in love with any woman' thing," Maria commented, frowning. "Honestly, it's kinda scary how quickly he can switch back and forth between lovey-dovey and downright angry if something happens that he doesn't like." After a moment of thought, Maria quickly added, "I'll probably get used to it after a while, but I don't really want to take advantage of him for it."

Chopper gave a nod. "What do you think of the rest of us, then?"

Maria gave a thoughtful expression, frowning slightly as she thought of the other Straw Hats.

"Well...I think you're pretty cool, for one," Maria stated, glancing up at Chopper with a grin. "I mean, a reindeer who can transform and talk to both humans and animals? That probably comes in pretty handy."

"That's not going to make me happy, you idiot!" Chopper exclaimed while he danced a little bit, blush forming on his cheeks.

Maria laughed in response to the doctor's reaction, grinning.

"And everybody else?" the doctor prompted.

Maria frowned slightly. "Well...Nami's pretty bossy, but she _seems_ to mean well...I honestly don't know what I really think of her. She's kind of neutral ground at the moment. Sanji...I already said what I feel about him when it comes to his dangerous mood swings, but he seems nice enough. And his cooking's delicious."

"Yup!" Chopper nodded. "Sanji's food is the best!"

"Zoro...I'm glad we have him on our side." Maria smiled absently. "I mean, I think he's strong -- _really_ strong -- and from what I've seen between him and Sanji, he'd probably be pretty dangerous if he ended up as an enemy."

Chopper shuddered. "Yeah. Like what happened when we lost our memories for a while there. Zoro looked _really_ scary."

"Yeah...he seems to have that feeling about him, doesn't he?"

Chopper nodded. "What about Luffy?"

"Our captain?" Maria cocked her head to one side for a moment. "I'm not sure what to think of him. I mean, it's obvious that he likes to have fun, but he doesn't seem to be the kind of guy who sees a battle as fun."

"That's right now. You should see him when we run into Marine ships out at sea completely by accident. A-and when we get to new islands, too -- he's always looking for adventure and just charging into things! It makes me worry about him."

"Adventure?" Mari blinked. "Not treasure?"

"Nope. I don't think he's even thinking of looking for that. Nami kind of handles all our treasure-hunting."

"Huh."

If Maria was going to say anything more, she was cut off by the sound of the rocks shifting, and the entire hallway suddenly started to shake, causing the amnesiac and Chopper to stumble around the hall.

"What's going on?" Maria yelped in surprise, coming into contact with a wall and leaning against it for support.

"I don't know!" Chopper replied, moving to the wall on the other side of the hall. "It could be a result of a fight with CP9 -- o-or maybe the Gates of Justice opening up!"

Maria's eyes widened as the tremors came to a stop. "Well, we'd better get moving and figure out what happened, then! If it was the Gates of Justice, then we're really running out of time!"

"Yeah!" Chopper got away from the wall and took off running, Maria following close on the reindeer-man's heels. The amnesiac let the doctor lead the way, leading them to take a sharp turn when the reached a dead end in the hall and start rushing down a flight of stairs...until they slowed to a halt, that is.

"That's weird...what happened?" Chopper frowned as he looked down at the stairs in a thoughtful manner, eyeing the large gap that had suddenly appeared in front of them. "The stairs are all split up."

"Do you think that tremor we felt caused part of the stairs to fall?" Maria asked, looking over at the stairs that were still there. A frown appeared on her own face. "But...I don't see any sort of jagged edge that might suggest that the stairs fell off...."

That's when she saw the wall further down from where they were standing: a jagged, yet still clean cut that seemed to travel around the lower part of the stairway at an angle.

"Or maybe the top of the building shifted somehow?" Maria questioned dubiously.

"We're going to have to be careful going down," Chopper commented, starting towards the stairs that were still there. "Parts of it could come off at any minute."

Maria nodded in agreement, then started after the reindeer doctor. Moments later, they heard a loud, high-pitched squeal coming from somewhere further down the stairs, causing the two to stiffen out of surprise.

"What was _that_?" Maria asked, blinking a couple times.

"That was Sogeking!" Chopper exclaimed in reply. "Come on!"

He barreled down the rest of the stairs, forcing the blue-eyed amnesiac to scramble after the muscular doctor as they got to the base of the stairs safely and even further down the hall.

"It looks like there's a door open over there!" Maria reported, pointing to a stream of light that was spreading out across the floor in front of them.

"Then that's probably where Sogeking is! And I can smell Zoro's scent, too!" Chopper dashed over and skidded to a halt in front of the opening, Maria mimicking his movements. "Hey! Are you guys okay in there?"

Two figures dashed past the doorway, followed by a large cloud of dust and what looked looked like two large, animalistic figures.

Maria blinked a couple times at the sight that had been placed in front of her: a garden of some sort that looked like it belonged more outside than inside (it clearly had been demolished by the stones that had probably fallen from the ceiling); two running human figures who the amnesiac knew well; and a large wolf with a ponytail and...a square-nosed giraffe?

"Zoro! Sogeking!" Chopper called out in alarm.

The two humans in the room turned their heads and looked at the open doorway.

"Chopper! Maria!" the two shouted together, waving their arms above their heads.

Maria caught sight of what looked like a pair of identical bands stuck to their wrists, a frown appearing on her face.

"What happened to you guys?" Maria called back. "You should be able to handle a couple animals, right?" she motioned to the wolf and the giraffe who were chasing them.

" _I_ could, but then we got handcuffed together by this idiot!" Zoro barked back, pointing accusingly at Sogeking while an angry glare appeared in his face.

"If you guys don't find the number 2 key, they're gonna murder us!" Sogeking wailed at the top of his lungs.

Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing the order that was given to them. _We have to find_ another _key?_

"If you guys need a key, why don't I come in there and beat these guys for you?" Chopper asked, frowning. "I mean, we're not fighting anybody right now."

"Sorry, but there's no way in hell that's gonna happen!" Zoro called back. "Besides, if you get taken out, then we'll be stuck in these handcuffs with no way to fight!"

"Please!" Sogeking added. "We're counting on you! You're our only hope!"

A look of realization crossed Chopper's face, and it was quickly replaced by a look of determination.

"Between Sanji, Nami, and Franky, somebody's _gotta_ have the number 2 key!" Zoro continued. "So get it and bring it here!"

"Hurry, okay?" Sogeking squeaked.

"O-okay! Sure!" Chopper turned and started running down the hall, Maria moving quickly in order to stay close to the reindeer.

"Number 2 key?" Maria repeated to herself, frowning. "Why would we need to find a key with a number for the handcuffs?"

"Maybe each set of handcuffs are numbered to work with a specific key," Chopper spoke up thoughtfully. "Didn't that weird guy from before say something like that? How the key he has could go for a set of handcuffs that _isn't_ on Robin?"

"You think that's it?"

"More than likely. So we've got to find the others and let them know that we have to find two keys now."

Maria nodded in agreement. "How do you think the others are going to react when they find out?"

"Well, Nami's definitely gonna be mad...." Chopper gained a nervous expression at the thought and rubbed the back of his head, like he had a phantom pain there. It made Maria wonder if Nami hadn't just taken to hitting Sanji and Zoro over the head when they were in the middle of a fight. "Hey -- who do you think is probably finished with fighting a CP9 agent by now -- Nami, Franky, or Sanji?"

"Probably Sanji, considering how strong he is."

"Yeah, you're probably right." Chopper gave a nod, then started to pick up speed. "Come on -- let's go find him!"

**Time Break**

_"No!"_

Maria and Chopper came to a skidding halt when they heard Nami's voice cry out in a loud scream.

"Nami!" Maria exclaimed, looking around in the hallway they were trapped in. "Where is she?!"

"She's just up ahead," Chopper replied, moving forward a little bit further towards what looked like a large room at the end of the hall. "Oh no!"

"What is it?" Maria moved to stand next to the muscular doctor and looked in the direction Chopper was staring in shock. The amnesiac's eyes widened a moment later. "Uh oh! That guy's one of the CP9 agents -- I remember seeing him on the balcony!" A frown crossed the girl's face. "But what is he doing with his _hair?_ Is that the result of a Devil Fruit or something?"

The pink-haired man hadn't noticed them yet. Instead, he was monologuing something while Nami was trapped in the long locks of his pink hair -- the orange-haired girl was actually being _held up_ in the air!

"I don't know _what_ to think of these guys," Chopper replied. "But we've got to get Nami out of there before he kills her!" He pulled a small, golden ball from out of his maroon jacket and popped it into his mouth. "Rumble!"

_Crunch._

Maria could clearly hear the sound of the ball getting crushed in the reindeer's mouth.

"Rumble?" Maria repeated in confusion.

"You didn't think I had just three transformations, did you?" Chopper replied, grinning. He shifted into Walk Point, then ran out into the open room at the pink-haired man. Maria stepped out into the room after him, wondering what exactly it was that the reindeer was about to do.

Just before Chopper reached the pink-haired man, he jumped up, and Maria's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the reindeer shift into a form she hadn't seen him do before: it looked kind of like Walk Point, except his front arms has bulging muscles, and his lower half made it look like Chopper could stand upright.

"Cloven Roseo!" Chopper declared, slamming one of his hooves into the CP9 agent's face.

"Whoa!" Maria's eyes widened even further when she saw the hoof print left in the man's face as he went flying into a nearby wall, his hair releasing Nami from his clutches.

"Nami, are you okay?" Chopper asked, running over to where the navigator had collapsed on the ground, coughing and rubbing her throat. Maria quickly ran over from her own hiding place to the orange-haired girl, as well.

"I'm fine," Nami replied, starting to get up. "Thank you for saving me."

"What was up with that guy, Nami?" Maria asked, holding out her left hand to help Nami get up to her feet. "Do you think he ate a Devil Fruit or something?"

"I don't know," Nami replied, accepting the amnesiac's gesture of good will and pulling herself up. "It's like he's got an octopus on his head! Once he grabs you, you're done for!"

"I guess he wouldn't like me burning him, then," Maria commented, her staff's phoenix head flickering with fire for a moment while Nami picked up her Clima Tact.

"Yeah, well, the less we see of that guy, the better. We should get away from him now."

"Hey, wait," Chopper spoke up. "What about his key?"

"You mean this little thing?" Nami replied, pulling a small key with the number "3" on it from out of nowhere.

Maria's eyes widened with surprise. "How did you get it?"

"I'm a thief." Nami shrugged. "It's a habit of mine to pickpocket people." She motioned for the pair to follow her. "Come on; let's leave that weirdo in the wall."

Maria and Chopper exchanged glances, then nodded and followed after the navigator, the reindeer shifting to Walk Point as they did.

"Stealing the key was the easy part, but I couldn't get away from him because of that hair of his!" Nami added as they ran out of the room and down another hall. "Anyway, have you seen the others?"

"Before we get to that, there's something we need to tell you," the amnesiac spoke up. "Zoro and Sogeking kinda need a key with the number 2 on it, and I can see that yours has got a 3 on it, so that won't do them any good."

Nami glanced back at Maria and gave her a curious frown. "Really? Why's that? Did they find Robin?"

"No," Chopper spoke up this time with a shake of his head. "They're kinda handcuffed together, and they need the number 2 key if they're going to be able to get the handcuffs off."

Nami's eyes widened in surprise, but then her expression changed to one of annoyance. "Seriously? Those two bozos got stuck together? How?"

Before Maria could respond to this, something suddenly came flying down from high above them and crashed into the ground, causing the trio to scatter in order to avoid the rocks that were sent flying up from the floor.

Maria stumbled back a couple steps out of surprise, then took a few steps forward cautiously. "What was _that?"_ When she saw what had fallen, her eyes widened in shock a moment later. "No...."

"This place is falling apart!" Nami exclaimed, holding up one arm to protect her face from the dust that had been kicked up. She looked down a moment later and paled. "Wait, _what?"_

Chopper looked like he had been stuck speechless.

"Is that...a doll?" Nami asked, not quite believing what she was seeing.

"No...." Chopper swallowed nervously. "It's _Sanji."_

Maria paled as she looked down at the figure that was lying on the destroyed floor in front of them.

It... _looked_ like Sanji, but Maria wasn't sure if he could have been the _real_ Sanji -- the person in front of them almost looked like he was some kind of inflated balloon-doll of some kind! One that had been beat up in the face so that the doll was missing a tooth and bleeding in a couple places.

However, Chopper was able to identify the person in front of them _as_ Sanji, so that meant the balloon-doll in front of them was the real deal.

"What happened to him?" Maria asked, looking over at the reindeer and the navigator.

Chopper shifted down to his Brain Point and moved to stand to the right of Sanji's head. "Sanji! Can you hear me?! What's going on -- who did this to you?!"

Nami and Maria moved in closer -- the amnesiac staying by Sanji's feet while Nami moved over to the cook's left side.

"Are you all right? Say something!" Nami demanded in a panicked voice.

Sanji didn't move for a moment, but then he suddenly shifted, coughing a couple times while he rolled over and tried to get to his feet, only to collapse on his stomach.

"Sanji!" Chopper exclaimed worriedly.

"I'm sorry...." Sanji's voice was strained. "...I lost, and...I couldn't...get the key...."

"Hold on, okay?" Chopper stated quickly. "I'll see what I can do."

Maria bit her lower lip and looked up while Chopper started to examine the balloonified chef. They were in another room, now, with dark stairs leading upwards while they hugged the walls. "Which member of CP9 were you fighting that caused you to turn into this?"

"That would be me."

Maria's head turned sharply, and she caught sight of a blond woman landing against a railing high above them. The woman looked highly amused.

"Kalifa, right?" Maria asked quietly, a frown appearing on her face.

The amused look shifted a little, and Maria got the feeling that she had gotten the name right.

"Hey, Sanji," Nami stated grimly. "You really couldn't win? You really gave it your all?"

Maria looked down at Sanji, blinking a couple times when she saw that the chef wasn't moving.

"You fought that blond woman, didn't you?" Nami asked, moving her attention fully to the back of Sanji's head. "I see. You must have gone easy on her."

"Gone easy on her?" Maria repeated incredulously. Then she remembered how Sanji had acted when he had been around her, Nami, and just so much as heard Robin's name. Her eyebrows shot up when she guessed that he must have tried to woo her instead of actually fighting her.

"I'm sorry," Sanji ground out in a whisper. "I couldn't get the key."

"Forget the key!" Nami barked back. "This fight is a matter of life and death! You can't stick to your stupid code of honor, okay?"

"Code of honor?" Maria repeated, blinking in surprise.

"Is chivalry _really_ worth dying for?" Nami continued. "People are counting on you!"

A headache hit Maria, and she closed her eyes and shook her head while words echoed through her mind.

_"You promised that you would never kill anybody?"_

_"No. It's part of my own code of morals."_

_"Well, that's stupid. I mean, what if somebody wants to kill you?"_

_"I kill them with kindness."_

_"Kid, this isn't a joke!"_

_"And I'm not joking, Wolverine. I_ don't _want to see people die by my hands. Do you have a problem with that?"_

"I'd say that chivalry is a good thing to keep around," Maria stated, opening her eyes and locking her gaze with Nami's. "Get rid of that, and people could sink so low that there isn't a nice person left in the world. Without a code like that, we'd probably be even worse off than we are now."

Nami looked a little taken aback by Maria's statement.

"I don't want to die," Sanji managed to say, turning his head so that he could look at Nami, "but I was raised to never hit a lady, no matter what. So even at a time like this, even if it kills me, I _won't kick a woman."_

Maria nodded in response to Sanji's statement, a slight smile playing on her face. Chopper looked downright amazed, and Nami's glare softened.

"I see," Nami stated...right before she knocked Sanji over the head with her Clima Tact. "That's stupid."

"Waah! He was coughing up blood, Nami!" Chopper yelped. "Don't hit him!"

"Besides, it's _not_ stupid!" Maria argued, pointing accusingly at the orange-haired navigator. "You've got your own code in your life, right? Well, Sanji's is to be nice to the opposite gender and never do anything to harm them or let harm come to them! You should respect that!"

Nami ignored the amnesiac's yell and glared down at Sanji. "Is running away against your code of honor, too? Because that's not worth dying over, either. Nobody wants to see you throw your life away _in vain_." Nami looked up in Kalifa's direction. "Leave that woman to me. You try to get better. And by the way...."

Nami glanced back at Sanji, and Maria couldn't help but feel a little cautious at what the navigator was going to say next.

"Even if it's dumb, I like that chivalry of yours," Nami finished.

Maria let out a sigh of relief while Sanji lifted his head to look at Nami a little better.

"What?" Sanji croaked. "Did she say she loved me?"

"Not even close!" Chopper replied, bopping Sanji on the head with a hoof.

Maria sighed through her nose. Something told her that Sanji hadn't heard Nami had said properly.

"Come on, Maria -- I'm going to need some help moving him so that he won't be lying in the middle of the room like this," Chopper stated, motioning to where Sanji was lying.

Maria gave the reindeer a nod. "Yeah. Sure." She moved closer to Sanji's feet while Chopper shifted to Heavy Point and moved behind Sanji's head.

"For the record, I don't play nice," Nami called up while Maria let her staff disappear so that she could use both her hands to grab Sanji's legs.

Maria frowned when her hands slipped a little, taking note that the fabric felt more like a slippery plastic of some kind. If she pushed down hard enough, though, she could get a tight enough grip that her hands wouldn't slide around so easily.

"Neither will I," Kalifa called down smoothly. "We'll get along fine."

Chopper roped his large arms underneath Sanji's, and he and Maria lifted up the weak cook and moved him over to a wall nearby, where they attempted to prop him up. Except...the blond pirate kept sliding back down the wall again and collapsing on the ground.

As Nami was starting to dash up the stairs, Maria and Chopper settled for leaving Sanji sitting against the wall while bending forward a little.

At the same time, someone else showed up.

"Yo-yoi! I have returned!"


	27. A balloon and...a clone?

"Him again?" Nami asked in annoyance, stopping on the stairs not too far from where Maria, Chopper, and Sanji were.

Maria turned her head and caught sight of the pink-haired, white-faced man who had been giving Nami a hard time, and she frowned and got to her feet, staff appearing in her hands. "I'm gonna burn all of that guy's hair off."

"No!" Chopper moved in front of Maria. "You stay with Sanji. I'll fight him."

Maria blinked in surprise before looking at up at the reindeer with a curious frown. "Why?"

"For all we know his hair will be able to grow _back_ at fast speeds, and then what are you going to do?" Chopper asked. "You stay with Sanji and make sure nobody tries to hit him. I'll take care of that guy."

The reindeer jabbed a thumb in the direction of the pink-haired man, who was looking in their direction and waving a bronze staff around while yelling loudly about how the Straw Hats should get ready to meet their doom.

Chopper dashed at him, shifting to the half-Walking Point half-Heavy Point form he had used earlier.

"Cloven...Cross!" Chopper declared, slamming his hooves into the man's face and sending him flying back.

"Good luck, Chopper!" Nami called out before starting up the stairs again.

Maria sat down next to Sanji and watched her two crewmates disappear from sight -- Chopper down one hall with the pink-haired, white-faced freak yelling in his odd way, and Nami up the stairs and after Kalifa.

Maria sighed through her nose, let her staff disappear, and drew her knees up to her chest as the last strand of pink hair disappeared from sight. "I don't see why Chopper wouldn't let me fight that guy. I may be the newest member, but that doesn't mean that I can't handle guys like that...does it?" The amnesiac looked over at Sanji curiously.

The balloonified cook didn't answer.

Maria sighed again and rested her chin on her knees, a forlorn look crossing her face.

"Maria-san...."

Maria blinked upon hearing Sanji's voice, and he looked over at the cook. "Yeah, Sanji?"

"You said you have a code of honor too, right?"

Maria blinked a couple more times, then nodded, even though Sanji wasn't looking up at her. "Yeah, though I kinda think of it more as a code of morals -- what I think should and shouldn't ever be done in my book. For instance, killing's pretty high on the 'don't do' list, like kicking ladies is for you, I think."

"So you've never killed anyone?"

"Nope. I think that's pretty definite, even though I can't remember everything yet."

_"Zihihihihihi...."_

Maria stiffened, and her eyes widened. _That laugh...._ She shifted forward into a crouch and started looking around the dark room.

"What is it?" Sanji asked, attempting to lift his head.

"Zihihihihi!"

Maria could feel the shivers running down her spine. Cautiously, she started rising to her feet, her staff coming to her fingers instinctively without the amnesiac even needing to call for it.

"Sanji, I'm going to go check something out," Maria stated as she glanced over at the chef. "You're not gonna move, right?"

"Of course not, Maria-san," Sanji murmured in reply.

"I'll be back as soon as I can." Maria turned again to look in the general direction that she had heard the laughter from, then started forward, gripping her staff in her right hand.

Fire started to build up on the wood as Maria prepared for anything that the laugh might mean. The memory of the stormy night and the figure laughing with evil intent slipped back into her mind, and Maria gritted her teeth as she stepped into the dark hall that she suspected the laughter was coming from.

"I'm a Straw Hat now," Maria muttered to herself. "I have friends who have my back. I have some of my abilities and my memories back. And I've got more confidence for some reason, too. I should be fine."

"Well, well, well. I had thought that you'd died in the sea."

Maria's confidence deflated somewhat as a shiver went up and down her spine. _That voice....it sounded exactly like --_

In an instant, Maria was back in the stormy sea, just barely managing to keep her head above the waves, while a stranger standing on air let out a crazed laugh.

_"Zihihihihihi!"_

"Wh-who are you?" Maria asked warily, turning as she looked around the dark room she found herself in. "And _where_ are you?"

Strange, purple eyes sparked with surprise as a figure stepped out of the shadows in front of the amnesiac. "You don't know me? I'm shocked, Maria -- after all you've done to me?"

"What are you talking about?" Maria gripped her staff in both hands, and she shifted into a stance that had the phoenix's head facing the stranger: a girl with blue jeans, a lavender shirt, a dark purple jacket, and dark purple shoes with black stripes. It wasn't those things that got Maria's attention, however -- it was the other's face.

The other girl may have had purple eyes, but her brown hair and facial features were so similar that it was absolutely unnerving.

"And...how do you know my name?" Maria asked, unease appearing on her face.

The other girl blinked, then gave a dry smirk. "Amnesia, huh? I didn't think that could happen again. Especially to someone with as much power as you."

Maria stiffened, tightening her grip on her staff. _Again? What does she mean by that?_

"Very well, I'll introduce myself again." The Maria lookalike gave the amnesiac a sly look. "You called me Airam when I first met you."

"Airam?" Maria blinked in confusion.

"It's your name backwards." Airam shrugged, still grinning like some sort of crazed clown. "It certainly seems to work. After all, I do seem to be the exact opposite of you."

"Exact opposite...?" Maria didn't like the sound of that. It made her uneasy, and her stomach churned as a result.

"Indeed." Airam's crazy grin widened. "I'm going to have a lot of fun toying with you. You're on my turf now, and if you do anything to change certain areas, I'll know about it."

_Change events? What--_

The sound of a loud rumbling from above their heads caused Maria to look up in alarm. Airam, however, didn't look the least bit concerned.

"It seems the building doesn't take too well to having the Straw Hats in it," Airam stated with a sly grin. "Of course, it was Kaku's fault that the building was cut in the first place."

"Kaku?" Maria blinked in confused surprise before shaking her head and glaring at Airam. "What are you talking about? And are you like...like my clone or something?"

"Clone?" The sly grin disappeared instantly, and Airam's face darkened into a glare. "Is that what you think? I'll show you clone!"

Airam suddenly dashed forward, bringing a purple fire-covered fist for a punch. Maria brought her orange fire-covered staff up, catching the one fist but completely missing the other that ended up going for her gut.

"Gah!" Maria coughed out as she stumbled back in shock, the wind knocked out of her. She quickly moved to block the next fire-covered fist as best she could while chanting in her mind, _Flash Fire, Flash Fire, Flash Fire_.... _why isn't this working?!_

Airam let out a cold laugh, grinning like some crazed clown. "Zihihihihihi! You really don't remember our first encounter, do you? My fire can't be absorbed by you. And if you're touched by it on the face or hands..." Airam grabbed Maria's left hand with a purple fire-covered fist.

Instant _pain_ spread out from Maria's hand and up her arm, causing Maria to cry out while wrenching herself from her copy's grip.

Maria moved a few steps away from Airam and looked down at her left hand, eyes widening in alarm when she saw the faint burn mark that was on the back of her hand.

"What...what kind of fire _is_ this?" Maria breathed in alarm, moving her gaze to Airam quickly.

"A fire that burns _all,"_ Airam replied, grinning wickedly as she spread her arms wide.

Maria grunted through her teeth and got into a crouch, moving her phoenix staff into her right hand and starting to twirl it at high speed while fire started to gather on it. "Fire Sphere!" She threw the fireball at Airam with as much force as she could, but the purple-themed lookalike simply stepped aside.

"I see you don't have that much control over your fire," Airam stated dryly, her grin fading into a dark frown as she folded her arms across her chest. "Fighting you right now is no fun. You haven't reached your level of power from before."

Maria eyed her purple-themed lookalike warily, gripping her staff as though she was prepared to come at Airam again if the other attacked.

"I could kill you here and now...but then I wouldn't be able to have access to other worlds because of how isolated these people are by nature. So I'll let you live...for now." Airam gave a sinister grin, then backed away into the shadows, laughing her signature laugh.

Maria charged after her, staff blazing, only to find nothing but a solid stone wall.

"What...?" Maria frowned in confusion as she glared at the stone wall. "How did she --"

"Oh, and by the way."

The amnesiac stiffened when she heard Airam's voice coming from somewhere in the dark room, but she was unable to tell where exactly it was coming from.

"I thought it would be fair to warn a weak fool like you that Chief Spandam of CP9 just activated the Buster Call. You won't have much longer before this entire island goes up in flames, which I'm sure you'll manage to survive. Good luck getting your friends out of that alive!"

Maria's eyes widened. "The Buster Call?! No! Everybody on the island's gonna die if that goes off -- like what happened in Ohara!"

"Oh? So you know about that." Airam's voice sounded strangely interested.

"Kind of hard not to -- if you know me so well, then you should know about what I can do." Maria quickly scanned the area, trying to find Airam and maybe knock her over the head -- or defend herself, if her purple-themed lookalike decided to try and attack her.

"...perhaps you're right on that account. But I'm not about to test my theories as a result of some pesky memory-loss child who decided to try and get in my way."

"Tch. Try saying that again when we're face to face!"

"Zihihihihihi! I don't think so. You're still too weak. Perhaps some other time~!"

Before Maria could utter a retort, a loud _crash_ came from the direction Maria had come from, causing her to turn around in alarm. The amnesiac's eyes widened a moment later when she saw what looked like a pile of rubble and a puddle of water lying where a certain cook had been a moment before, and Maria took off running, yelling, "Sanji!"

The amnesiac dashed into the room that she had been in a minute before, before Chopper and Nami had gone off to fight their respective battles. Sure enough, there was a large pile of rubble and a large puddle of water that was pooling out from the stones, and Sanji was lying there in the water. However...

The cook grunted while Maria's white, red-striped shoes hit the water, and the amnesiac paused when she saw the blond pirate push up from the wet stones and start to get to his feet, pushing some of the rubble off him in the process. The amnesiac's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the cook's appearance.

"Sanji! You're back to normal!" Maria exclaimed.

The cook glanced over at Maria and blinked a couple times before looking down at himself. "Huh. I guess I am." He tried to wipe off his damp suit, frowning at the wet fabric. "I think getting hit with the water did something to that soap stuff I was covered in."

"Soap?" Maria repeated, walking over.

"Yeah. The beautiful woman I had been fighting ate a Devil Fruit that let her have control over bubbles or something like that." Sanji dug around in his suit jacket for a moment before pulling out a pack of cigarettes that looked like they had been soaked. "Tch. And I could really go for a smoke right now. I'll probably have to wait for them to dry off."

Maria considered telling Sanji that he'd be better off without the cigarettes, but then she decided against it; she didn't know where he picked up the habit and she doubted that a woman telling him to stop would get him to completely drop it.

"Here. Give them to me for a sec." Maria held out her left hand.

Sanji raised his only visible eyebrow. "Why? Do you smoke?"

"No, but I could dry them off faster."

Sanji's serious expression brightened when he heard that. "Really? You'd do that?"

"Well, since you seem so dead-set on keeping up the habit...." Maria sighed and rolled her eyes while her left palm started to flicker with flames a little bit.

Sanji pulled out the pack of cigarettes again, then held them over Maria's left hand. The flames quickly got higher and hotter from a mental command from Maria -- _I think I'm starting to get the hang of this_ \-- and the cigarette pack was dried for in seconds. Moments later, Sanji had one stuck in his mouth and was digging around in his suit coat for his lighter.

"So, where did the water come from?" Maria asked, motioning to the puddle with her staff. "I heard a crash and saw the rubble, but --"

"That is the remains of a bathtub," Sanji replied, motioning to the rocks lying in the water around them. "It was in that CP9 agent's room a minute ago, but it got thrown out. I heard this weird roar, too." He took the recently lit cigarette out of his mouth and blew out a stream of smoke with a calm air.

That's when there came the sound of _something_ from high above them, and Maria could feel tremors going down her spine. It sounded like there was some sort of...dangerous wild animal in the building or something.

"Like that?" Maria asked, blinking.

"Yeah, that's right."

Moments later, there came the sound of something getting crashed into, causing Maria and Sanji to look up and catch sight of a cloud of dust billowing out. Then something started moving, making tremors in the ground.

"Oh, no. Nami!" Sanji instantly made a mad dash for the stairs and started climbing up.

"Hey, wait for me!" Maria quickly scrambled after the blond cook, gripping her dragon staff. She didn't know what was going on, but if the woman was giving Nami trouble, then it was possible that the navigator was going to need some help -- a lot of help, in fact.

"I know you've got some pretty cool powers you can use, but this could be too dangerous for you, Maria-san," Sanji called back as they scrambled up the stairs. "You're better off waiting down there!"

"Where one of the other CP9 agents wandering around could end up finding me and get the jump on me?" Maria responded. "No thank you! I've already had a close encounter with a girl who looks exactly like me! I don't want to see if there are other CP9 guys who are clones of anybody else around here! Besides, if that woman still needs to be defeated, you already said that you weren't going to be the one to do it."

"Yeah, that's -- wait, _another_ you?" Sanji came to a stop on the stairs and looked back at the amnesiac.

"Yeah." Maria came to a stop and gave a nod. "She'd claimed that we'd met before...said I'd called her Airam, which is my name backwards. But when I saw her, I didn't end up remembering anything like that."

Sanji frowned, the cigarette in his mouth shifting a little bit. "You weren't hurt anywhere, were you, Maria-san?"

Maria shook her head. "No. Airam said I was too weak to take her on and just...disappeared. Then I heard her voice say something about a Buster Call getting activated."

Sanji's eyes widened, and he looked up the stairs again. "In that case, we'd better get moving and make sure that Nami-swan is all right!" The blond cook barreled up the stairs again, forcing Maria to scramble in order to stay on his heels.

The pair quickly arrived at the area of the room that the explosion of noise had been coming from a moment ago, coming to a quick stop when the reached the blown-out doors. However, the room was completely quiet.

Maria blinked in confusion as she looked around the pink, frilly room, which was completely covered in bubbles and looked like a stampede had gone through from the outside.

"What happened in here? And what's that weird smell?" Maria's nose twitched a little bit. "It kinda smells like it did when Nami made that cloud of lightning bolts back on the main island."

"Obviously, the monster came from outside and probably lifted up the bathtub from the floor here." Sanji motioned to where two small spouts of water were coming up from a section of the floor that looked like it had been torn out. "It blew the doors out and moved out of sight after that. As for the smell, Nami-swan probably used her Clima Tact again in order to create more thunderbolts and defeat her opponent." He motioned to the unconscious blond woman lying on the floor and sighed forlornly. "If only Nami-swan hadn't left her in a mess like that!"

"So, what happened to the monster?" Maria prompted, wanting to get away from the sight of the unconscious CP9 agent.

Sanji turned on his heel and walked out and looked at the broken railing. "Well, it came out here...." He pulled out a cigarette and released a stream of smoke. "And it must have moved around here somewhere...."

Just then, there came a loud scream that caused Sanji and Maria to stiffen and look around for the source of the cry.

"That's Nami-swan!" Sanji identified in a panicked tone.

Maria's eyes quickly scanned their level of the room, and she caught sight of a large hole in the wall across the room from where they were. She could barely see the figures and the room's features, but....

"Over there!" Maria pointed quickly. "It looks like they're being threatened by a wolf! He's gonna kill Sogeking!"

Sanji stiffened, and his eyes narrowed considerably before he turned and dashed around the room towards the hole in the wall with so much speed that he was a quarter of the way there before Maria started to move after him. The teen had to let her staff disappear so that she could lighten her load and move faster.

The amnesiac managed to reach the hole in the wall just as Sanji calmly stepped onto the grassy floor. Now that Maria was closer, she could see that this was the same room that Zoro and Sogeking had been in when she and Chopper had found them. She crouched behind a section of the wall that hadn't been blown out and pulled out her dragon staff just in case either the wolf-man -- who was concentrating on Sogeking -- or the giraffe-man -- who was fighting Zoro -- decided to come in her direction instead.

"It's a shame, really," the wolf-man was saying in a calm manner. "You were better off when you were connected to that green-haired shepherd over there. And now that the little lamb's wandered off, thing's are going to be a little different. I'll make it quick and painless and take out your windpipe, like I promised."

"No! Don't kill Usopp!" Nami yelled from where she was kneeling on the floor. Maria wondered if she had ended up getting knocked there by an attack.

"Foolish girl! You're going to be the next morsel!" the wolf barked back in reply, glaring at Nami with dangerous yellow eyes. He returned his gaze to Sogeking -- who he was holding by the neck -- and he raised a clawed hand. "Now die!"

"No!" Maria, Zoro and Nami ended up exclaiming at the same time.

It was at this point that Sanji decided he was going to make his move. Before Maria could properly see what was happening, one black shoe came flying in and kicked the wolf in the face, sending him flying back into a wall while Sogeking was released from his grip.

Maria let out a sigh of relief and wiped her forehead with her left arm. "That was a close one! Did you have to time it like that?"

Nami's head turned sharply, and she caught sight of Maria and her hiding place before turning to look in shock at Sanji, who had stopped to relight his cigarette.

Then there came the sound of shifting rubble, and Maria turned her attention in the direction Sanji had kicked the wolf. The CP9 agent was getting to his feet, a snarl clear under his snout.

"Who the hell are you?" the wolf growled.

Sanji casually fingered his cigarette, releasing a stream of smoke before removing it from his mouth.

"I am the hunter," he stated coolly.

Since Maria couldn't exactly see his face from where she was, the amnesiac could only guess that the blond cook was smirking. The thought caused her to smirk knowingly, as well. _I may not know these guys too well yet, but I can tell that wolf's gonna wish he never tried to take down our friend._

"Sanji, how did you get your body back to normal?" Nami asked in surprise, looking at the still-wet suit of the cook.

"Some big bathtub fell from the sky and smashed to pieces," Sanji replied dryly. "Water went everywhere -- it must've broke the spell."

"More like it _did_ ," Maria called out from where she was crouching behind the remains of the wall.

"But more importantly, Nami...." Sanji turned around, and Maria's eyes widened when she saw the cook's legs practically turn into spaghetti while a heart replaced his eye. "Did you just fall in love with me all over again?"

Maria let out a groan and did a facepalm with her left hand. "Seriously? At a time like this?"

"Nose-sopp!"

Maria's head shot up, and she caught sight of Sogeking trying to get to his feet. The long-nose was on his hands and knees now, and it looked like he was struggling to even stay up that far.

"So it's to the point that not even 'Soge' _or_ 'King' is in my name," Sogeking muttered weakly. He let out a cough. "I'm sorry, Sanji."

The blond pirate turned to look at the figure on the floor.

"I couldn't...I tried, but I couldn't...."

"Usopp," Maria murmured quietly, worried.

"You're alive, that's what matters," Sanji replied. "Everyone has things that they can do and things that they can't."

Sogeking lifted his head. "Y-yeah, but --"

Sanji turned his head again and took a couple steps. "Guys, take a look outside."

"Outside...?" Maria stood up from where she had been crouching and moved around the wall cautiously, watching Zoro and the giraffe -- Kaku, she remembered -- fighting in the background. The wolf still hadn't moved, instead watching Sanji with a dark glare.

Maria's gaze moved to the hole in the wall that led out to the sea, her eyes narrowing slightly as she tried to see what Sanji was pointing out. A moment later, they widened in alarm.

"The Gates of Justice...." Nami murmured in alarm.

"They're opening up," Maria stated, tightening her grip on her staff. "This isn't good. At all."

"If those gates open up and Robin goes through them, then we won't be able to follow her," Sanji stated grimly. "She'll go across a sea infested with Sea Kings, and either end up in the underwater prison, or Navy Headquarters. She'll be lost to us forever."

"But...didn't Luffy go after her?" Nami asked. "Shouldn't he have caught up with them by now?"

Maria felt her head start to throb a little, and she closed one eye while still watching the Gates of Justice. A cloud of dust suddenly blew up into her vision while Luffy collided with someone.

"Um..." Maria frowned while she opened her eye again. "I think he's fighting Lucci right now."

Nami and Sogeking looked over at Maria, the navigator clearly looking surprised upon hearing the news.

"This is the worst situation that I can imagine," Sanji commented, getting the attention moved back to him. "And even if the situation is this bad, there's always a chance."

"Sanji...." Sogeking murmured quietly.

"Leave this guy's key to me," Sanji continued, tapping the toe of his left foot against the grass while the wolf-man got up.

The CP9 agent laughed. "Changing up my opponent, huh? Doesn't matter to me."

"Maria-san," Sanji called back. "Get Usopp and Nami-swan out of here before they get hurt anymore than they already have been."

Maria blinked a couple times before nodding. "Yeah, sure!" She ran over to Sogeking and helped him get up to his feet, letting the masked man lean against her left shoulder.

"For now, I'm going to stay here and do what you can't do," the cook added. "Usopp, you can still do what _I_ can't do. Think carefully and read the situation. As long as we have you, we still have a chance that we can save Robin."


	28. Sanji Shows Off

Sogeking raised his head a little upon hearing Sanji's statement.

"Huh?" Maria blinked a couple times in confusion. "What do you mean, Sanji?"

"What are you talking about?" Sogeking asked in confusion. He slipped off Maria's shoulder, stumbling for a bit before standing fully on his own.

The wolf-man suddenly let out a howl, causing Maria to stiffen and tighten her grip on her staff.

"And Shave," the wolf stated in a serious tone. A moment later, he disappeared from sight, causing Maria's eyes to widen.

"He just disappeared?" the amnesiac asked in confusion.

"Get out of here!" Sanji barked, not looking away from where he had slammed the wolf into the wall.

"Right!" Nami grabbed Sogeking by his cloak and ran out of the room, the masked long-nose complaining about how she shouldn't treat him like this when he was injured.

Maria, however, didn't move. Instead, she stood like she was ready to launch herself into a fight, both hands gripping her phoenix staff.

"You too, Maria-san!" Sanji added. "I can't let you get hurt by this bastard."

Maria gained a nervous expression. "Are you sure that --"

"I appreciate that you care for my well-being, Maria-san," Sanji interrupted, turning to look at Maria. "But I can handle this guy."

Maria blinked a couple times, but when she saw the determined look in Sanji's eyes, she nodded.

The amnesiac promptly turned around and ran out of the room before the wolf would end up deciding to come after her. However, she came screeching to a halt as soon as she got away from the garden-esque room, and her blue eyes scanned around in confusion.

"Where are Nami and Usopp?" Maria asked quietly, frowning. "I don't see either of them anywhere...."

Something suddenly flew past Maria's head, and the teen jumped back in surprise when something slammed into the wall nearby.

Behind her, the wolf laughed. "I thought you were supposed to be some kind of hunter. Guess you were just all talk."

_ Uh-oh. _ Maria quickly scrambled out of the wolf's way and hid behind the portion of wall that she had ducked behind a few minutes ago. A nervous expression came over her face as she watched the wolf make his way towards Sanji. _Please don't let him be dead. Please don't let him be dead._

"I'VE GOT IT!!!"

Maria nearly jumped out of her shoes when she heard Usopp's yell.

"I KNOW WHAT TO DO! WITH ME AROUND, WE CAN STILL SAVE HER!!!"

"Whoa, calm down!" Nami countered, sounding a little panicked. "This isn't something that we want the wolf to hear!"

"Well, Nami can still thunderbolt him if he gets too close," Maria commented quietly. "But...what about Sanji?"

The wolf cackled, causing Maria to turn her head and look over at him. "Well, well. Guess I get to kill them after all." He licked his lips in a hungry manner, causing Maria to pale a little bit.

_ He seriously isn't thinking of  _ eating _them, is he?_

Something moved in the dust cloud that Sanji had kicked up when he was rammed into the wall, and Maria saw a black blur jump up out of the dust cloud and move quickly over to the wolf, who didn't see the black foot coming until his face had been given a solid kick into the wall behind the wolf...causing the wall to crack and break.

Maria let out a sigh of relief, moving her left hand to her chest. "Well, that's a relief. Looks like the wolf wasn't able to take him out." Her eyes moved to the hole in the wall and the cracked stones around it, and the amnesiac gained an expression of wonder. "But man, what power! Sanji's got a lot of force behind those legs of his!"

The cloud of dust started to settle, and the wolf stepped out of the hole, rubbing his head while muttering something under his breath. Maria watched carefully as the wolf turned his attention to Sanji, then rushed him with his claws pointed at the blond chef.

The amnesiac bit her lower lip to keep herself from crying out at the cook to get out of the way, but then she relaxed when Sanji easily dodged and yelled something that Maria couldn't quite decipher just moments before slamming his feet into the wolf's back.

"Iron Body!" the wolf bellowed before the black shoes slammed into him. Maria's eyes widened in surprise when she saw that the CP9 agent didn't so much as flinch this time...at first. Then he collapsed on the floor, and Maria thought she could see him panting.

"That can't be a wolf thing," Maria commented quietly to herself, frowning as she shifted into a sitting position with her back against the wall. "The claws and the teeth, sure, but they don't come with any sort of natural armor. Is that one of those non-Devil Fruit ability things?"

At the back of her mind, the amnesiac quickly made a list of the moves she'd seen all of CP9 use when she was around: Finger Pistol (Maria rubbed her chest absently when she remembered Lucci's attack); Iron Body; that jumping-in-the-middle-of-the-air thing; the controlling the hair thing; and the appear-and-disappear trick.

"Do you think I even felt that?!" the wolf called out, looking over at Sanji as his voice brought Maria out of her thoughts.

The amnesiac blinked a couple times when she saw the CP9 agent panting. _I think he did feel them. He's just trying to cover that up._

"That technique you guys use to make your bodies as strong as iron?" Sanji asked. "Yeah. That's a pain in my ass."

"Tempest Kick: Lone Wolf!"

The wolf kicked out with one of his feet, sending what looked like a beam of energy bouncing against the ground as it made its way over to Sanji, who casually jumped out of the way of the attack. Maria made a note of the move's name, and, somehow knowing that wolves usually weren't able to do that, she added "Tempest Kick" to her list of moves that CP9 agents used.

Sanji somehow managed to angle himself while he was still in the air so that he could start hitting the wolf with as much force as he could. Maria watched in amazement as Sanji pretty much defied gravity and continued to kick the wolf in the chest before pausing, lifting one leg up, and shooting out with it.

The wolf slid back a few feet as a result of the blow, but he didn't collapse. "How many times have I gotta tell you? Your kicks do nothing to me!" The CP9 agent charged forward and slammed one clawed hand into Sanji, sending him flying back into another wall.

"Sanji!" Maria yelled out in alarm, reaching out as though she would have been able to grab him, even when they were separated this far.

The wolf let out a loud laugh. "See that? Now that's _real_ power! That was my Iron Body Kempo: Wolf Fang stance. I'm the only master of the Six Powers who can move around freely while using the technique!"

_ Six Powers? _ _Is that what they're called?_ Maria frowned slightly. _But what are the techniques themselves called?_

Sanji shot out of the dust cloud he had been thrown into a few minutes ago, then slammed his feet into the wolf while yelling more words that Maria wasn't quite sure if she was able to pronounce. The cook's kicks send the wolf flying into yet _another_ wall.

At the back of her mind, something tickled at Maria, causing her to rub the back of her head out of annoyance. Then realization hit her moments later. _Is Sanji speaking a language that isn't English?_

It seemed to make the most sense. Why else would Sanji add a syllable to the end of her name, unless he was raised using an entirely different language from English?

That thought caused another headache to come from out of nowhere, and Maria shook her head as her vision flickered out, replaced with something else...a memory?

** Memory Break **

_ "Back on my home world, there is more than one language, so it's expected of us to learn at least one language before we leave school," explained Maria. Her outfit looked nearly identical to the one she was wearing now, except for her baseball cap -- instead of being red and orange, it was red and white, with a blue, saw blade-like shape on the front. "There's one particular language that I happen to like, and it's called Deutsch." _

_ "German," translated a nearby blue, humanoid animal with playful, emerald green eyes. Spines stuck out of the back of his head, almost like hair might on a regular human. _

_ Maria nodded. "Exactly. Anyway, there's some of it in this world's past, too, because your last names are German." _

_ A red, humanoid creature with spines, dreadlocks, and twin fox tails let out a snort. "Well, that certainly clears things up." _

** Memory Break **

"YOU REALLY THINK I'D BUY THAT CRAP?!!"

Maria was thrown out of the memory by Sanji roaring this statement out, sounding annoyed. The confusion that she felt at the memory and what was going on with Sanji and the wolf left the amnesiac feeling somewhat disoriented. Why had Sanji yelled? And what was with that conversation she had just seen?

However, Maria couldn't really help but laugh when she saw that the wolf had gotten his head stuck in the ceiling by one of Sanji's kicks.

"My darling Robin is your long-lost sister?" Sanji sneered. "Dumbass. I'll have to kick you twice as hard for that one."

Maria blinked a couple times. "What did I miss when I was getting a flashback?" she asked in confusion.

The wolf hung there with his head stuck in the walkway above for a moment, and then he collapsed to Sanji's and Maria's level again. He got up, rubbing his head and muttering something under his breath.

"Am I finally starting to make an impression on you, Wolf?" Sanji asked coolly, bouncing something up and down in one hand.

Maria couldn't see what was in his hands but whatever it was really got a reaction out of the CP9 agent.

"Hey! That's my key!" the wolf barked, his ears going straight up.

Maria's eyes widened upon hearing that. _Sanji's got his key? All right!_

"Well, yeah, you _did_ give it to me," Sanji commented coolly.

"Iron Body Kempo!"

Maria watched the wolf and the cook nervously as they stared each other down. But what happened next was completely unexpected by the amnesiac.

"Later!" Sanji waved, then suddenly took off running around the walkway.

Maria scrambled to her feet when she saw this. "Sanji! Are you planning on just leaving him to run rampant or something?!"

"How dare you!" the wolf barked. "I'm supposed to be the one who tricks people! How dare you steal my gimmicks! Shave!"

Maria's eyes widened when the wolf disappeared, and her head turned quickly to where Sanji was running. The amnesiac expected the CP9 agent to appear _in front_ of Sanji, but instead the wolf appeared behind the cook.

He was about to sink his claws into Sanji's shoulders when the cook suddenly leaned back and slammed a foot into the wolf's schnozz.

Maria let out a bark of laughter upon seeing the look on the wolf's face as he slid back because of the force from the kick. The amnesiac continued to watch eagerly as Sanji back flipped over to where the wolf was standing.

"Party Table...."

"Iron Body Kempo!"

Sanji jumped up over the wolf and slammed into the back of the wolf, once again yelling something in a different language as he sent the wolf falling to the ground. Then he jumped into the air and essentially turned himself into a human _drill_ as he came down.

Maria's shoulders sagged in disappointment when the wolf scrambled out of the way of Sanji's attack.

"Damn twerp!" the wolf barked, glaring at the spinning top of a cook as he slowed to a stop. "Now I'm really pissed off. If you want to get hurt that badly, I'll be happy to oblige you. And the easiest way for me to do that is for me to reveal the true power of my Iron Body Kempo."

Sanji and Maria both looked at the wolf -- the cook with a glare and Maria with a wary expression.

"Iron Body Kempo: Wolf Plantain Stance!"

The wolf got on all fours, black-tipped tail up in the air seconds before he disappeared from sight and became nothing more than a black blur. Maria could see four beams of light shoot out from four directions, and Sanji only just barely managed to dodge them when the wolf said something about a death trap.

"Heavy Wolf Paw!"

"Sanji!" Maria exclaimed in alarm when she saw the wolf land a hit right on Sanji's rib cage. Her eyes widened even further when she saw him go flying _across the room_ and hit the wall.

"How'd you like that Iron Body Punch?" the wolf asked, laughing. "That's gonna ache for the rest of your short, pathetic life!" He jumped off the railing and started jumping in the air over to where Sanji was. "Moon Walk!"

_ So that's what the move's called.... _

"Tempest Kick: Lupus Fall!"

Four springing beams of light came flying off the wolf's foot, and Maria started to pale a little bit when she saw them get close to Sanji.

"Get out of there!" Maria yelled at the top of her lungs.

However, Sanji wasn't quite able to move; the four energy beams hit Sanji dead-on, producing a yell of pain from the cook.

"No! Sanji!"

The CP9 agent landed on the railing and let out a howl and a laugh. "That was a pretty stupid move you made back there! You should know that you wouldn't be able to steal my key and come out of it alive. I'm a wolf, you dolt. I'm not gonna stop chasing you until you're in my jaws."

Something shifted in the dust cloud, and Maria let out a sound of relief when she saw Sanji get to his feet.

"Still hanging in there, huh?" the wolf asked dryly. Maria started inching closer to them so that she could hear better what the wolf and Sanji were saying.

"I'm not going anywhere, pal," Sanji stated coldly as Maria reached the corner that was between her and the two combatants. "And I'm not about to give myself up, either. And I'm not gonna forgive you."

"Forgive me?" the wolf threw back his head and laughed. "Upset with the way we treated Robin? Getting all emotional will only get your mind cluttered in a fight. Don't waste your time pitying that hopeless fool of a woman when you should be thinking of a way to get out of here alive."

Maria stiffened a little at the wolf's speech, stopping her movements. This guy didn't know Sanji. He didn't know that Sanji wasn't going to give up on Robin's rescue. She was a part of the crew. You don't give up on crew members.

"Watch your damn mouth, wolf," Sanji growled in reply. "You don't want to see me mad. I tend to overheat when I'm mad."

"He does?" Maria asked in confusion, blinking in surprise. She remembered what had happened to her at Water 7 -- when she had started to steam up because of the rain -- and wondered if Sanji did the same thing.

"Throwing around empty threats isn't going to get you to win the match," the wolf commented. "I can tell you're pretty badly injured already, and I'd be more than happy to put you out of your misery, but...Iron Body Kempo: Devil Walk!"

The wolf jumped up and slammed his feet into Sanji's chest, sending him flying, much to Maria's alarm.

"No! Sanji!" Maria started to twirl her staff in order to build up fire while the wolf laughed.

"Laugh it up all you want. Because you won't be in a second."

Maria paused when she heard Sanji's voice, and she looked around for the cook. Then she saw a black tornado spinning around at extremely high speeds and figured that it was Sanji. But...what was he doing?

"I don't know what you're doing," the wolf stated, holding his clawed paws out in front of him, "but if you plan on making me dizzy, it's not working."

Sanji spun for a moment longer, and then he came to a stop and lifted his right leg...which was glowing a molten red.

"The Foot of the Devil," Sanji stated darkly. "Diablo Jamble. The heat I generated from all that spinning will burn my kicks straight through you."

"Whoa...." Maria's eyes were wide in awe. "Is _that_ what he meant by overheating? If he did, then that's pretty cool."

Sanji lunged forward and kicked his burning foot into the wolf's chest. Maria watched as the wolf's face shifted into an expression of pure pain and agony.

"The heat of its destructive fire burns hotter than the flames of hell," Sanji continued as the wolf was sent flying to the other side of the room.

Maria couldn't help but grin as she watched the treatment that the wolf was getting. She would have kept watching were it not for the fact that she got the feeling that there was something going on in the garden room.

The amnesiac got the feeling that Sanji would be able to knock out the wolf without any problems at all, so she turned and moved back to the hole in the wall that led to the room with the grass-covered floor. The teen peered around the jagged edge of the wall...and her eyes widened in shock.

The giraffe and the green-haired swordsman were _still_ going at it, dancing around the room to some unhearable song, the only sense of rhythm being Zoro's swords clashing with Kaku's hooves and nose. Moments later, the two split apart, and Zoro held his swords in a strange, familiar stance.

Maria's eyes widened in surprise when she saw the floor crack under Zoro just before he launched himself at the giraffe, yelling, "Oni Giri!"

The resulting collision with the square-shaped nose of the giraffe caused a shockwave that forced Maria to get out of the way of the cloud of dust that came flying out of the room.

Above her head, she heard the rumbling of the upper half of the building sliding down, and the amnesiac looked up cautiously.

"I hope that thing doesn't end up falling down on our heads," Maria commented nervously. "I don't think any of us would be able to survive."


	29. The Unnatural Giraffe

"Listen, buddy, just so we're straight here, I PREFER MEAT!!!"

Maria rolled her eyes when she heard Kaku's declaration as he separated his nose from Zoro's two swords. His natural form was human, which was an omnivore -- of course he'd prefer meat.

The green-haired swordsman skidded back a few feet, but he didn't lose his balance or didn't really look all that damaged.

"And just so we're straight here, I don't give a damn," Zoro replied shortly, glaring up at the giraffe.

Maria blinked in confusion when she saw Zoro grab the bandanna that was tied around his left arm and tie it around his head. What was he doing?

"Anyway, enough small talk," Zoro stated shortly as he finished tying the black bandanna to his head. "I've gotta get that key. If I can't make it in time, then this is all for nothing."

Maria shifted around a little where she was standing, knowing that she would be able to duck down behind the remains of the wall in front of her if any attacks ended up going on her direction. When she saw the grim look on Zoro's face and how dark and dangerous he looked with the black bandanna on his head, the amnesiac decided that it was a _good_ thing that Zoro was on the Straw Hat crew.

Zoro shifted his swords around and held them parallel to the ground, pointing out to his right. "Two-Sword Style: Nigiri."

"Are you supposed to get stronger with that bandanna on your head?" Kaku sneered.

"Let's find out," Zoro replied coolly. He dashed forward, and came to a stop right in front of Kaku's chest. When the giraffe looked down at him, Zoro threw the swords and himself upward suddenly, yelling, "Tower Climb!"

Kaku simply moved his neck back, easily avoiding the two slashes.

Maria blinked in surprise, wondering why Kaku hadn't moved in order to attack the swordsman while he was so close.

"Tower Climb Return!" Zoro yelled, slashing downwards when he got to be level with Kaku's head. The giraffe, once again, easily dodged the slashes.

Maria gripped the stone below her with both hands and leaned forward, intent on watching every single move the duo made as they slashed and cut their way across the battlefield.

Kaku's square nose and Zoro's two swords met with a clash of metal and a large amount of sparks, sending out a windy shockwave that nearly blew Maria's backwards baseball cap off her head if she hadn't clapped her left hand over her head.

"That's a lot of power," Maria commented, breathless.

Zoro tried to slash at Kaku's neck again, but the CP9 agent easily dodged the two slashes.

"You've left yourself with a blind spot. Giraffe Scythe!"

Kaku whipped his neck around and caught Zoro on his side, causing Maria to stiffen in shock and alarm. "No...Zoro!"

Zoro crashed into one of the rocks that was positioned in the room sending up a cloud of dust from the impact. When the dust cleared, Zoro started to get to his feet, sending small pieces of stone falling to either side.

"Iron Body: Edgewise."

Kaku smirked as Maria watched... _something_ run up his neck. She hadn't seen anything like _that_ when the wolf had been using Iron Body. How was it that Kaku managed to get the thing to run up his neck when the wolf didn't?

And then Kaku started doing something that Maria hadn't expected of him: his neck started to shift around at ninety-degree angles, decreasing the length of his neck while seemingly doing no damage to the giraffe-man himself.

The result, however....

"There's no blind spots...on a square."

Maria couldn't help but burst into loud laughter, holding her stomach with both hands at that while Zoro declared angrily, "So what?! Who cares if you can't move?!"

"You're so naive," Kaku responded. His gaze moved over to Maria, and he added, "Both of you."

Maria stiffened, her laughter stopping short.

"Perhaps I should remind you of something."

"Yeah?" Zoro responded shortly.

"Unlike humans, giraffes have _four_ legs. Tempest Kick!"

Kaku's legs started wiggling at high speed, but Maria didn't see any of the blue beams of energy showing up and going after Zoro like the wolf's did.

In fact, coupled with how _ridiculous_ the giraffe-man looked as a box, Maria couldn't help but burst out laughing again.

"Will you stop messing around?!" Zoro barked.

"What are you talking about?" Kaku replied. "My attack has already begun!"

Maria frowned in confusion as her laughter faded. _What did Kaku mean?_

Seeing Zoro look up, the amnesiac followed the swordsman's gaze...and her eyes widened considerably. There were a lot of what looked like amber-colored stars up on the air high above them.

Maria looked back at Zoro quickly and she saw a _really_ nervous look on the swordsman's face. A nervous swallow went down Maria's throat at the sight.

"First the slashes go up, they bounce off the ceiling, and then they come raining down! Giraffe Shower!"

The amber-colored stars hit the ceiling, then came raining back down at high speed. Zoro attempted to hold them off by waving his swords above him, but then he just crossed his swords above his head...while the rest of the Giraffe Shower rained down on him, cutting the green-haired swordsman.

"Iron Body," Kaku stated, his body seeming to ripple for a moment before the Giraffe Shower rained down over him.

"Zoro!" Maria exclaimed in alarm. She ran into the grassy room and, after summoning her weapon, started twirling her dragon staff in her right hand, thinking, _I have to stop the shower before he's cut to death!_

The staff responded to the request, while, at the same time, something flickered through the amnesiac's mind. Instantly, instinctively, she started to pour energy _into_ the staff, intent on using a recovered technique to save Zoro.

Maria stopped twirling the staff and came to a stop while she threw her staff forward, calling out, "Icy Wind!"

A blast of cold came flying from the dragon staff when Maria threw her right arm forward, causing ice to appear in the cold blast and go flying into the Giraffe Shower. Upon contact with the energy that Kaku had sent flying, the cold wind caused the Giraffe Shower to freeze and explode into small ice crystals.

Maria let out a sigh of relief, panting. "That...took a _lot_ more energy that I thought it would."

When the barrage on Zoro stopped, the swordsman stood panting for a moment, while Kaku stared in shock at what had just happened.

"What the hell?" Kaku demanded, quickly turning his eye to glare at Maria through the Giraffe Shower.

"You've got your Six Powers," Maria replied, taking in a breath, "and I've got my staff."

"A Devil Fruit...?"

Zoro glanced up from here he was standing with his arms over his head, still panting heavily and but all over -- Maria could see the blood pooling out from under his yellow jacket. "Maria? What the heck?"

"I wasn't about to stand by and let you get cut to death," Maria stated shortly in reply, feeling her strength starting to return a little bit.

"Nose Pistol!"

Maria turned sharply when she heard Kaku call out and, acting on instinct, raised her staff in both hands. The amnesiac's eyes widened in alarm when she saw the nose of the giraffe slam into her staff, sending her flying back into a wall as a result.

"Gah!" Maria yelped when she slammed into the wall behind her. She could feel the wall getting crushed in a little behind her, and it felt like her entire body was aching as a result of the crash. The teen gritted her teeth and narrowed as a result of the pain, but it wasn't bad enough that she felt like crying out in pain.

"Maria!" Zoro yelled. Maria saw him turn sharply in order to glare at Kaku, who appeared rather smug.

Maria grunted. _I need to absorb some fire, but I don't see any blazes around right now. I did pick up a lot of energy before..._

Maria tried to shift out of her hole in the wall, but the teen failed to really get too far; the Nose Pistol attack had stuck her _into_ the wall, and she wasn't going to be able to get out anytime soon.

"You two are quite resilient for mere humans," Kaku commented, no longer in his square form as he looked down at Zoro. "But I'm a giraffe, _boy_."

Maria glared up at him from where she was stuck in the wall as she continued to struggle, but she wasn't able to break free.

Zoro snorted. "That your superhero name? Giraffe Boy?"

"Giraffe Boy?" Kaku repeated, frowning. "It's just Giraffe, fool!"

 _Fool? Who says_ that _anymore?_ Maria mentally asked, frowning. _I certainly didn't expect to hear it from him._

"It's Giraffe Fool?" Zoro asked. Maria couldn't see the expression on his face, but judging from his tone of voice, the amnesiac suspected that he was grinning.

"No, you're the fool! I'm the giraffe, got it?"

Maria grinned. This game was getting to be pretty fun!

"Listen to yourself!" Zoro sneered, putting his two swords away and starting to pull out the one with the white hilt. Maria frowned in confusion when she saw that he hadn't pulled the sword out of its sheath.

"It doesn't matter if you're a giraffe or a boy or whatever," Zoro continued. "If you're a swordsman, then let your blade speak for you!"

"Huh. If you think you can get under my skin, then you're wasting your time," Kaku commented.

"I'm not gonna get _under_ your skin," Zoro corrected. "I'm gonna cut straight _through_ it."

Maria blinked a couple times. She wasn't exactly sure if she was feeling any wind, but it looked like Zoro's jacket was flapping as though there was wind blowing in his direction.

"And if you use your Iron Body, I'll cut through that, too," Zoro added.

"Hmph. You're quite the comedian, aren't you?" Kaku asked, confidence clear in his voice.

"Oh, I wouldn't know about that," Maria commented. "So far the only one who's made me laugh really hard is _you."_ She gave the giraffe a cheeky grin, and he glared back at her in return.

"Hey!" Zoro barked. "I'm the one fighting him, not you. Butt out."

Maria scowled at the irate swordsman, but when she heard the tone Zoro was using, she decided that it might be a better idea to keep her mouth shut.

Zoro, without so much as a glance back, gave a nod. "Good. Don't move from there until I'm done with Giraffe Boy."

Before Kaku could respond with a record or Maria could respond with a statement saying that she definitely _couldn't_ move, Zoro moved his sword to a position over his right shoulder.

"One Sword Style: Sword Draw."

A strange wind started to blow the grass out in an even circle, starting from where Zoro was standing.

"Lion Song!"

"Tempest Kick: Dragon Cut!"

Maria heard the sound of what sounded like metal slashing against metal, but she couldn't really see what had happened because of how _fast_ the combatants ended up moving.

The amnesiac tried to lean forward in order to see what had happened, and she felt the wall shift around her trapped arms. A moment later, she ended up falling forward and onto the grassy ground with a grunt.

"Iron Body isn't the issue," Kaku stated as Maria started to get from the ground. "If you can't cut me, then I won't _need_ Iron Body to defend myself."

"You're right," Zoro replied calmly as Maria got her arms underneath her and looked up. The teen blinked a couple times out of confusion when she saw that the two of them were standing with their backs to each other while Zoro placed his white sword back where he had pulled it out from.

"I'll have to take a different approach," Zoro added, turning around to look at Kaku. The giraffe turned to face his opponent.

Zoro took in a deep breath and exhaled.

"One Gorilla."

Maria's eyes nearly popped out of her head when she saw the green-haired swordsman's right arm suddenly bulge out with muscle.

"Two Gorilla."

Maria's blue eyes widened even further when Zoro's _left_ arm decided to do the _exact same thing._

"What the heck?" Maria asked under her breath in shock.

"Now, again." Zoro pulled out all his swords and moved to stand with his back to Kaku, raising his now _extremely_ muscular arms and holding his swords above his head in an "X" shape. "Three Sword Style."

"A test of strength this time, is it?" Kaku asked coolly, pulling his head back. "Sounds fun to me. Nose Pistol!"

Zoro jumped up into the air as Kaku's head came flying towards him. "Two Gorilla Slash!"

Three swords connected with Kaku's square nose with the sound of metal clashing together, and Maria flinched back as a result of the bright light that accompanied it.

Then Zoro started growling around his sword.

Maria looked up, putting a hand above her eyes where her baseball cap's bill _would_ have been had she not turned around on the train ride to Enies Lobby. The amnesiac couldn't see too well what was going on, at any rate, and only started moving when she saw Kaku suddenly get blown back.

"Eep!" Maria scrambled quickly to her right on her hands and knees as Kaku was sent flying into the wall right to the left of where she had been slammed a few minutes ago.

"You never thought you might lose, did you?" Zoro asked around his sword, the swordsman himself having landed on the ground safely when Kaku had slammed into the wall. "You can't even imagine that I'm stronger than you. Well, it's time to wake up!"

Maria looked back and forth between the two and saw a strange look in both of their eyes. It was almost like they had found someone that they wanted to beat, and they were more than prepared to die trying to take down the other.

"I'll make you face the truth," Zoro stated.

"I could say the same thing!" Kaku replied. "You still haven't seen the true... _wild_ strength of a giraffe."

"Then stop talking and show me already," Zoro responded gruffly.

"It would be my pleasure." Kaku started to get up from where he had been thrown into the wall. "Observe, for this is the power of nature!"

Kaku moved to stand on all four legs, but then...his neck started to slowly retract inwards, separating somewhat so that his neck could disappear into his neck.

"Giraffe Cannon!" Kaku proclaimed.

Maria's eyes widened, and she blinked in confusion from where she was sitting on the floor. "Okay, that should _not_ be possible. There's no _way_ an ordinary giraffe would be able to pull their necks in like that! Their bones would break, and they'd probably suffocate -- or worse!"

"But _I'm_ not an ordinary giraffe," Kaku responded pointedly, glancing over at the amnesiac. His gaze quickly returned to Zoro. "Extreme Nose Pistol -- Giraffe Blast!"

Kaku's neck suddenly stretched out, intent on hitting Zoro, but the swordsman easily dodged.

"It's like I keep telling you," Zoro growled, turning to face Kaku's twisting neck. "That neck of yours is your weak point!"

"Keep telling yourself that," Kaku responded grimly. "Tempest Kick: Spinning White Blade!"

Kaku's body suddenly lifted up and started spinning, retracting forward into Kaku's neck. Zoro lifted his swords to block the attack, and he ended up getting pushed back a few feet, turning with his back to Maria while Kaku got his neck completely pulled in again.

Maria decided that she would try to get to her feet at this point. She couldn't afford to crawl around on her hands and knees while waiting for Zoro to finish off the CP9 agent. Using her staff as a support, the amnesiac hauled herself up off the ground and tested her legs to see if she could stand on them. Upon finding that she could, the girl let out a sigh of relief before quickly moving to hide behind a rock nearby that _hadn't_ been blown to bits by the two combatants yet.

"How about you worry about your own weaknesses instead of mine?" Kaku demanded from where he stood facing Zoro. "You won't get away this time. Giraffe Cannon!"

Maria blinked in utter confusion when she saw that, instead of Kaku's neck shooting out, his legs suddenly grew in length, making the giraffe-man noticeably taller.

"What in the name of Moltres?" Maria asked, blinking in confusion. A moment later, her eyes widened in surprise before a frown covered her face. "Moltres? Since when do I swear by _that_ name?"

"Damnit!" Kaku cursed. "I pulled my neck in so far it pushed my arms and legs out!"

"What kind of messed-up body have you got?" Zoro demanded in reply.

"That's what I'd like to know!" Maria agreed. As a memory popped into her mind, the amnesiac added, "I mean, I've seen giraffes that have heads on their _tails,_ but none of them could control their necks like this!"

"It's like when you cram dough through a little hole and it comes out as noodles," Kaku muttered in a complaining tone. "Like a pasta machine."

There was a long pause as Maria and Zoro stared at Kaku -- well, more like glared in the swordsman's case.

Kaku suddenly got up on his hind legs and declared, "Pasta Machine!"

"Don't act like you did that on purpose!" Zoro and Maria barked at once.

"A long neck is nice, but long limbs like these can be handy as well," Kaku commented, shifting his stance. He crossed his arms in an "X" shape as he continued, "A long-time pro like me can turn a mistake like this into fresh opportunities. Behold as I unleash a new devastating long-range technique!"

Maria tightened her grip on her staff as he muscles tensed, despite the aching feeling that was still going through her body after getting slammed into the wall. She didn't like the sound of what Kaku had just said, and was considering jumping into the fight without Zoro's permission when --

"Giraffe Blast!" Kaku's neck came shooting out, curling a his head came shooting for Zoro.

"That's the same attack you used before!" Zoro snapped as he moved into a different stance. "I've had enough of this nonsense. Three Sword Style: Tatsumaki!"

"Iron Body!"

Maria watched in amazement while Zoro spun at a high speed, causing a tornado made of some kind of wind energy attack spun up and hit Kaku under the chin.

"That must've been what he used when we were blasted through the ceiling back at the Court House," Maria realized. "Wow."

"Shave!"

Kaku's entire giraffe-y self disappeared in a flash, allowing Zoro's attack to go up and slam a hole in the ceiling. A moment later, the CP9 agent appeared again, then called out, "Moon Walk!" before jumping up.

"What now?" Zoro muttered, glaring up at the giraffe.

Maria gripped her phoenix staff with both hands warily. Was she going to have to do another attack to protect Zoro from a barrage of something?

The amnesiac watched as Kaku disappeared into the hole in the ceiling that Zoro had made, and a slight frown appeared on her face. "What is he doing?"

"Pasta Machine!"

Maria's eyes widened as the giraffe came flying back down from the hole, his neck pulled in again...and his elongated arms carrying two swords.

Kaku slammed his swords in a downward arc, forcing Zoro to pull up his in an "X" shape to block them.

"Thank you for waiting," Kaku ground out, annoyance clearly in his voice. It made Maria wonder what exactly he was annoyed about.

There came a _shing!_ sound as the two yanked their swords apart, sliding back a short distance away from each other.

"Nevermind the neck," Kaku stated quickly. "If I can control the reach of all four limbs, my blades will be unstoppable!"

The CP9 agent suddenly jumped forward and started slashing at Zoro, forcing the swordsman to defend himself from the giraffe's two swords.

Maria bit her lower lip out of worry for her fellow crewmember.

"Perhaps you were so distracted by my giraffe powers that you forgot I'm a master of the _Four_ Swords Style!"

" _Four_ swords?" Maria repeated in surprise. "But I would see two! How can you claim to fight with four swords if you only carry two?"

"You've done well thus far," Kaku continued, "but this battle is over now!"

Maria made a noise of worry while Zoro continued to fend off the two swords the CP9 agent was holding...as well as Kaku's _feet_ , Maria then realized. The amnesiac hoped that this wouldn't be too much for the swordsman.

"Even if you us have the power of a wild animal," Zoro grunted as he continued to fight off the blades. "Even if you can attack with that long neck of yours...even if you can use the Four Swords Style...."

The black bandanna-wearing swordsman let out a roar and pushed outward with the swords in his hands, forcing Kaku's two swords away from himself with enough force to leave the giraffe speechless.

"What? He deflected _all four_ blades?"

Maria grinned at Kaku's reaction. He may have been a shipwright that she had run into during her first week after losing her memory, but she had never gotten to know him very well, even if he had been easygoing at the time. So the amnesiac felt no remorse for what Zoro was doing to the giraffe.

Zoro took in a couple deep breaths as he looked up at Kaku. "None of those things...will give you the strength that it takes to defeat me."

 


	30. Zoro has a Forme Change?!

 

Maria couldn't help but marvel at the man Luffy had claimed as his swordsman. Zoro not only was capable of staying in a fight against an opponent who was probably twice his size, but he also declared that Kaku was going to need a lot of strength in order to defeat him. The amnesiac hoped that Zoro would be able to end the fight quickly.

"You're all talk," Kaku stated darkly. "If you think you have what it takes to defeat me, then let's see what you've got."

Maria, who was still hiding behind a rock pretty close to where she had been slammed into the wall, watched as Zoro reached up and paused. Then the swordsman got into some kind of crouching stance.

"Three Sword Style: Leopard...Spinning...Shot!"

Maria's eyes widened out of surprise when Zoro suddenly leapt forward, spinning in the air as he went flying towards Kaku. "Whoa!"

The amnesiac was disappointed when Kaku sidestepped the attack, grinning and looking like he thought he had won. But then, Maria's eyes widened in shock when she heard something that sounded like fabric rip, and Kaku collapsed with shock clearly written all over his face.

A grin crossed Maria's face as Zoro landed lightly on his feet and glanced back at the CP9 agent he had just felled. Raising her staff, Maria called out, "Go Zoro!"

The green-haired swordsman ignored the cry, but Maria didn't mind. She figured that he was concentrating more on the fight than everything else around him.

"Oh, come on, don't look so surprised," Zoro calmly commented as he looked over at Kaku. "The way you fight, I find it hard to believe that this is the first time you've been touched by a blade."

Kaku moved into a sitting position, facing Zoro and putting his back to Maria. "Huh. Well, it seems you have a little something to back up your boast. I won't underestimate you again, but I'm afraid that one hit is the best you're going to do. I have four swords, Six Powers, and the immeasurable strength of a giraffe. That's an equation for victory if I've ever heard one."

Maria frowned. "I dunno about that...I remember taking on monsters five times his size when I was a little six-tailed fox, and my power could take down those creatures. What makes him think that this situation's gonna be any different?"

"So don't blink! This'll be over in a flash." Kaku quickly moved back, bracing his arms against the floor while his legs suddenly kicked out. "Tempest Kick: Shuriken!"

Maria watched the energy sent from the kicks turn into spinning ninja stars, which Zoro moved quickly in order to block. Meanwhile, Kaku took advantage of Zoro's distraction and got up on all fours.

"Giraffe Blast!"

"Zoro!" Maria yelled in alarm when Kaku's square nose caught the swordsman in the gut and sent him flying.

"My neck's like a whip," Kaku pulled his head back. "Whiplash!"

_Bam!_

Maria flinched back in alarm when Kaku's head slammed Zoro into the floor, then lifted up and slammed him again. She watched with wide eyes as Kaku lifted his head to do it again, but Zoro just barely managed to scramble out of the way in time. The resulting shockwave, however, sent him flying a short distance before he landed on his back.

"Come on, come on...." Maria murmured out of concern for her friend.

"Even faster," Kaku stated. "Fierce Smash!"

"Zoro!" Maria yelled in alarm as she tightened her grip on her staff and moved away from her hiding place. The amnesiac gritted her teeth as Kaku's neck moved so quickly that it looked like he had multiple heads hitting Zoro at once.

_I want to help, but I promised Zoro that I wouldn't get in the way! He'd better come out of this alive, or else I'm gonna kill him!_

"How do you like this? Still think you can defeat me?!" Kaku called out as he slammed his head into Zoro's chest. The giraffe stopped the attack and brought his two swords in front of himself before continuing, "And now for a taste of my Four Swords Style. Prepare yourself."

Maria's eyebrows scrunched up in concern when she saw Zoro breathing heavily on the ground. "Come on...you've gotta get up!"

"Fury Slash!" Kaku spun around, sending an energy attack at the swordsman on the ground.

Maria let out a yell of alarm when she couldn't see Zoro as a result of the brightness of the attack, but when she heard the sound of metal on metal, a frown flitted over her face. The amnesiac's eyes narrowed slightly, but then she saw that Zoro had managed to get to his feet and was using two swords in order to keep the attack at bay.

Maria let out a sigh of relief.  _Good...Zoro isn't out for the count yet._

"Here I come."

And instantly, the two were at it again, swords and feet colliding with great ferocity...but something was wrong. Maria could clearly see that Zoro was not only losing ground, but was completely unable to get any hits in.

"What's wrong?" Kaku asked, laughing. "Are you losing strength? Give it up! You don't have what it takes to beat me!"

Maria saw a flash of red liquid rise up from one of Zoro's shoulders and his stomach, and she cried out in alarm while  _he_ just grunted in pain.

"You pirates were sorely mistaken if you thought you could take on the World Government and survive," Kaku continued. "With a mistake  _that_  severe in the name of Justice, it can be only punishable by death!"

Maria's eyes narrowed. "There's that Justice thing again...what is it with these people?"

"The same goes for Nico Robin," the giraffe added.

As soon as Kaku said that, Zoro slid back out of his opponent's reach.

Maria's blue eyes widened in alarm when she saw  _something_   _dark_  materialize around the swordsman's body for a moment.

_Was it just me...or did it look like Zoro had six arms for a moment there? What was with that dark aura I saw?_

"You bastard...." Zoro growled, his voice barely hearable from where Maria was standing. He turned so that he was fully facing Kaku -- and, to an extent, Maria -- but the amnesiac couldn't see the swordsman's eyes. Did it have something to do with the black bandanna he was wearing? Or something else?

"Your mouth just crossed the line," Zoro continued in a soft, rage-filled voice. "Now you're gonna pay, you arrogant freak."

"Oh, did I offend you?" Kaku asked snarkily, not at all intimidated by Zoro's stance, face, or voice. "Well, if you're tired of hearing me talk, I'll just end you with the same move that crippled this tower." The giraffe backed up and got into a one-hand handstand before starting to spin his neck and legs around.

Maria's eyes widened in surprise, and she looked up at the perfectly-cut stone that had slid back, revealing the sky above the tower. "He did  _that?"_  she squeaked in alarm. The amnesiac quickly returned her attention to Zoro, who was standing with his swords in his hands, but they were down at his side. "Zoro, that attack looks like it's pretty powerful! You've got to stop him!"

Zoro didn't move, much to Maria's confusion.

 _What's he going to do?_  the amnesiac asked herself quietly.  _He's not just going to stand there and take it, is he?_

"This'll be over in an instant when I slice you in two!" Kaku called out. "And then I'll go for the girl with the same attack! It's be end of the line! There's nowhere to run!"

Maria paled when she heard that.  _My staff and my strength couldn't handle a Nose Pistol from him! I'm not going to be able to survive this next attack unless I figure out a way to dodge or block it!_

"This time, I'll make my attack twice as powerful as before!"

"That's even worse!" Maria looked up at how the tower had shifted above them, and she swallowed and bit her lower lip.

"Yeah, you're right."

The amnesiac quickly shifted her head and looked over at Zoro, who lifted his head to look at the spinning giraffe.

"It is the end of the line," the black-bandanna wearing swordsman stated. "For you, at least."

Maria gained a concerned expression.  _I don't like that crazed look in his eyes...._

A blast of wind burst out from where Zoro was standing, and his entire area of the room became as black as night, with a dangerous air about it that sent shivers down Maria's spine.

But what happened next terrified the amnesiac even more.

**Maria's POV**

Zoro held his two arms out in front of him, crossing the two swords in his hands in some kind of parallel "X" shape.

"Demon Aura: Nine Sword Style."

"Nine swords?" I repeated. Okay, the creepy dark aura that was surrounding Zoro was one thing, but hearing his voice and hearing that he was going to use  _nine_  swords made me start to freak out a little. And I wasn't getting any memory flashes or anything, either, which meant I hadn't seen anything like this before...and that, to be honest, kinda creeped me out even more.

As I watched, Zoro's arms started moving, but...they weren't really moving. It's like another pair of arms suddenly branched off his two original arms, then branched off  _again_  while the guy gained  _two extra faces_ with swords to match!

"Asura!" Zoro declared.

I may have gotten a confidence boost when I had gotten some of my... _rediscovered_  abilities, but this was just....

I gulped. Was this...Zoro going all out? Just what  _was_  he?

"Nice try, but you're still too late!" Kaku declared, still sounding unfazed.

 **"Is it too late for me...or for you?"**  Zoro replied.

His voice...Chaos and Aurora, it sounded like he was looking for blood! Not only that, but it sounded like his  _voice_  had multiplied into three, too! That just increased the creepy level factor!

"Unless you somehow manage to dodge this Tempest Kick, then nothing has changed! You're all talk!"

Zoro crossed all six of his arms in front of him, making it look like he was ready to attack.

"Sky Slicer!"

Kaku sent a  _huge_  blast of energy in Zoro's direction, and it was so bright that I wasn't able to see how Zoro reacted to it. Despite that new form of his (or should it be Forme, if I'm using Pokemon terms?), I was praying that the swordsman would survive. I gripped my staff in both hands, watching the bright slash for any sign that Zoro had survived.

Suddenly, a shape that kind of looked like some sort of star was cut into the Sky Slicer, and the entire thing dissolved into little harmless sparkles. And there stood Zoro, his six arms splayed out. He didn't look at all harmed by that last attack, which really was a relief.

"Impossible!" Kaku exclaimed, clearly shocked.

Zoro jumped into the air, his dark aura following him like some kind of evil shroud.

 ** _"You did well,"_**  the green-haired swordsman stated with his three voices.  ** _"I commend you. Suffering is welcome on the path to bloodshed!"_**

Wait,  _what?_

I'm pretty sure I was turning pale by that point. Zoro's voice -- well,  _voices_  -- had taken on an even darker tone. It didn't even sound like Zoro anymore. And...was it just me, or did it look like his eyes were glowing red?

A bright flash suddenly came in from where Zoro was, and I was forced to look away for a moment. I could feel the  _entire tower_  shaking under my feet as I heard some kind of weird noise that I couldn't quite identify.

**"Asura: Silver Mist!"**

I looked up when I heard Zoro call out, and I watched in amazement as Kaku fell to his knees behind where the swordsman was standing. Then the neck started to retract -- as did the other large limbs -- and...Kaku turned back into his normal human self right before collapsing on his front.

At the same time, Zoro's extra faces and arms disappeared. Well, at least that form doesn't last long _._

I let out a sigh of relief and looked around the damaged room. It's over. Zoro won. But why do I feel like I'm the one exhausted here? Did I get an adrenaline rush just from  _watching_  all that?

I saw Zoro starting to sheath his swords, and I took the opportunity to start walking over to him. I could see that the swordsman was exhausted himself -- his entire body was moving every time he took a breath -- but the fact that he was still on his feet was a pretty good sign.

Zoro reached back and tore his bandanna off as I came to a stop a few feet in front of him. I could see that he was looking down at the ground from where I we standing.

"I've got a message for you," Zoro stated, glancing back at the collapsed form of Kaku. "From your other boss over at Galley-La."

I blinked a couple times, but then I remembered -- Paulie had said something when we were still on the main island, riding on the King Bulls.

"He said you're all fired," Zoro finished.

Kaku rolled over onto his back, arms and legs splayed out while he breathed in and out heavily. "Paulie...I see...fired, huh? Too bad -- it'll be tough. Assassination skills don't come in handy in other lines of work."

"You could always get a job at the zoo," the green-haired swordsman commented dryly.

I nodded. "Yeah. It's not every day that kids get to meet a talking giraffe."

Kaku closed his eyes, and, much to my surprise, he actually  _smiled_ as he reached into a pocket on his black jacket and pulled something out. "Nice. That's a good one."

Kaku held out his hand, and I quickly caught sight of something metal and familiar in his grip. The key!

I quickly dashed over and slipped it from his grasp, and Kaku's hand collapsed on the grassy floor. He was breathing out evenly, but his entire body was limp. I figured he must have passed out from exhaustion.

"Hey, Maria."

I turned my head when I heard Zoro call my name, but then frowned when I saw he wasn't looking at me. I followed his gaze up out of the room...and stumbled back a step in surprise.

"Uh oh," I commented, looking at the now even  _wider_  opening in the Gates of Justice. "We're gonna have to hurry if we're gonna get this to the others." I fingered the key in my left hand, glancing down at it and taking note of the number. 5. Well, we  _were_  forced to face five CP9 members.

Zoro didn't answer. His eyes were still on the gate. After a moment, though, he turned his head and glanced at something behind him. I turned and followed his gaze.

"Hey, Moss Head!" Sanji yelled as he dashed into the room. "Did you get a key?"

"Yeah," Zoro replied, turning around fully. "Just now." He jerked his head in my direction, but he didn't really need to; I was already holding up the key that Kaku had been keeping on his person.

"That's good news," Sanji commented, slowing to a walk as he reached us. "Seems like the two of you might have overdone it a bit, though."

"Overdone it?" I snorted. "You weren't here watching them! Kaku pushed Zoro practically over the edge, if that Asura thing you did means anything." I glanced over at Zoro, and he sent a calm glance back in my direction, raising an eyebrow as he did.

"Asura?" Sanji repeated, blinking in confusion as he stopped in front of me. He shook his head. "Whatever. The point is that the tower's taken a lot of damage. Do you think it's still safe?"

"Safe enough," Zoro replied. "Who cares, anyway? It's not important right now."

I handed the key over to Sanji. "That's the last one, right? We've got all the keys?"

"Yup," came the cook's reply.

"We'd better hurry and get them to Robin," Zoro stated grimly.

"Usopp's gonna take care of that." Sanji raised the key in his hand. "I'm going to go and get this to him. You  _stay_  and don't follow me."

Zoro snorted. "Why would I follow  _you_ , Dartbrow?"

I gained a disgruntled expression. Were they  _really_  going to get into an argument now?

"Because you're just going to get yourself lost all over again and you won't be that much of a help in getting Robin back," Sanji replied seriously. He looked over at me. "Maria-san, keep an eye on the Moss Head for me, will you?"

"Don't worry about it, Sanji," I replied. "Get going! You could be holding her key to Robin's rescue right now!"

"Right!" Sanji turned and took off out of the room at high speed, leaving me standing with the green-haired swordsman.

As soon as the cook was out of sight, I let out a sigh and sank down to sit on the floor, my right hand sliding down the length of the staff as I went. "That takes care of them _,_  I guess."

Zoro didn't say anything; he just eyed me with a guarded expression. After a moment, however, he sat down next to me without a word.

My eyes wandered up my staff as I let my mind wander. Chaos, Aurora, and Moltres...those three names had slipped out of my mouth and into my head and just rolled around in there like they were supposed to be there. I hadn't gotten any memories back as a result, though...yet. They sounded  _really_  familiar at this point, but I didn't know where I picked them up from.

And then there was the Icy Wind attack I used in order to rescue Zoro from the Giraffe Shower. Does that mean I can absorb ice, too? Maybe I should try that later....

"You haven't seen anything like Asura before, have you?"

I jumped when I heard Zoro's voice, and I glanced over at the swordsman. He was looking back at me with a slightly curious expression on his face.

Quick visions flashed through the back of my mind, and I shook my head. "Some Pokemon can transform as a result of certain items or certain circumstances, but I haven't seen a Pokemon transform with such a dark aura around them...and I haven't seen humans transform like that, either." I looked over at Zoro with an expression of confusion. "How is it that you managed to  _do_  that?"

Zoro eyed me for a moment, one eyebrow raised. Then he turned his head and looked out the hole in the wall that Sanji had disappeared through. "Just came to me, I guess."

I blinked a couple times upon hearing that. Came to him? That sounded...almost unbelievable.

But, then again....

"That's kind of been happening to me a lot, too," I finally commented. "At least, while I'm still recovering my memories." My eyes drifted to the hole in the wall, too. "It's leaving me with a lot of questions about what I can do, though."

Zoro grunted, but he didn't say anything else.

**Change in POV -- Zoro, 3rd**

Maria was a strange kid, and that  _had_  to be an understatement.

First, there was the whole "vision" thing. Knowing what other people were doing or  _had_  done without being there should have been impossible. Sure, there was that freaky "Mantra" thing that those Skypeans had been able to do, but knowing what Luffy was doing when the Gates of Justice were opening up? Or what had happened on top of the Court House -- Maria's little crying fest and declaration about seeing Robin's past hadn't gone unnoticed by the swordsman of the Straw Hats.

Then there were what Maria claimed were her memories. I mean, Pokemon? Really? What kind of place had creatures that had abilities without eating Devil Fruits? And what kind of name  _was_  that? "Pokemon" sounded like some kind of made-up myth.

And now Maria could cause a staff to appear out of nowhere and could use both fire  _and_  ice?  _Without_  eating a Devil Fruit?

She had to be hiding  _some_ kind of secret that she wasn't about to tell anyone. And their captain just  _had_ to go and ask her to join up. And Maria had accepted.

Which meant that whatever secrets Maria  _had_  were going to be the entire crew's responsibility.

Zoro wasn't exactly looking forward to that. Robin's little spiel with the World Government was getting to be bad enough as it was. If there were people out in the world (besides their fellow Straw Hats and Galley-La) who knew Maria -- which Zoro was pretty sure there was -- then the pirates were going to be hunted from one end of the Grand Line to the other trying to make sense of the amnesiac their stupid captain had stuck them with.

Then again...Luffy always seemed to have a reason for asking people to join up.

Zoro decided that he was going to have a private talk with Luffy in order to figure out  _why_  he had asked Maria to join up with them in the first place.


	31. The Buster Call Begins....

**3rd POV**

Sanji ran back into the room a few minutes later with a large grin on his face.

"You two had better turn around and look outside," the cook stated quickly. "The fun's about to start."

Maria looked at the cook in confusion. "Fun?" She started to shift around, moving her hand up her staff and pulling it down so that her leg wouldn't run into it as she turned.

"What are you so excited about, Dartbrow?" Zoro asked, placing a hand on his knee and raising an eyebrow.

"Just turn around and look, Moss Head," Sanji replied with an annoyed expression appearing on his face. "Usopp's about to do what he does best."

Maria looked back at Sanji with an expression of surprise, and she quickly scrambled to her feet and moved closer to the large hole in the wall that had been there when the amnesiac had arrived with Sanji not too long ago. She stopped a short distance away from the break in the wall, frowning as she out her left hand above her eyes and started to look around for something going on below them.

"What is he going to do?" Maria asked, glancing back at Sanji and Zoro. "I know he's got that giant slingshot thing, but --"

"He's going to be using it, Maria-san," Sanji replied, "in order to do what I unfortunately can't do for Robin-chan at the moment."

Maria blinked a couple times. "Really?" She looked back out the hole again. "I can't really see what could go on at this distance though.... I don't _think_ so, at least."

Sanji came up next to Maria and put his left hand on her shoulder. "Then let me be your eyes, Maria-san."

"Uh...sure. Thanks, Sanji."

"Anytime, my dear~!" Sanji pointed out towards the wide-open Gates of Justice. "Usopp pointed out a bridge that seemed to go through the Gates of Justice. He said they were taking Robin across it, so he's going to see what he can do in order to slow them down." The cook motioned a little bit downward, and Maria caught sight of the bridge that Sanji had mentioned.

"Why isn't it leading from the Tower of Law?" Maria asked, frowning slightly.

"Dunno. Maybe they got something wrong in the building plans or something."

"Here I go! Special Attack, Gunpowder Barrage!"

Maria looked up in surprise upon hearing the long nose's voice, blinking in slight confusion. "Gunpowder Barrage?"

A sudden explosion came from somewhere on the bridge, causing Maria to turn her head to look out the hole. Her eyes widened when she saw a large explosion at one end of the bridge, followed closely by minute, gray-colored bursts of cloud. Faint yells came up from below.

Sanji was clearly enjoying the show, because Maria saw the large grin appear on his face. "Bam! Eat that! Our sniper's number one! Serves you right, you bastards! Come on, Robin! Run!"

Up above, Maria could hear Usopp yelling something, but the amnesiac couldn't exactly hear what it was he was saying.

"I can do without the singing, I think," Zoro commented dryly, looking up at the roof.

"Franky, do you read me? It's me, Sogeking."

Maria looked up when she heard Usopp using his "Sogeking" voice.

"I got this Snail Phone from Nami. Look behind you; there should be a bright red bundle."

"Bright red bundle?" Maria repeated.

"It has two keys inside. Combine them with the two you have, and that should be all of them."

"Did he shoot them down there?" Maria asked, moving her gaze from the faint figure on the roof to the two teenage boys now standing on either side of her.

"Seems like it," Zoro replied.

"Now Franky can get Robin-chan free of those Sea Stone handcuffs," Sanji added.

"Then let's go," Zoro stated. Maria turned her head to look at the swordsman and saw him fingering one of he hilts of his swords. "I'm not about to let Robin have _all_ the fun."

"Wait." Sanji held a hand in front of Zoro, then looked up at Usopp. "Hey, Usopp! You mind checking in with them to make sure that Robin's cuffs are off?"

"I already did!" came the reply. "And it worked! Key number 5 was the one that did the trick!"

"All right!" Maria exclaimed, grinning.

"Now we can head over there and meet up with Robin-chan," Sanji stated, looking over at Zoro with a bit of an irritated glance.

Zoro grunted in reply, then looked up at the figure on the top of the Tower of Law. "Hey, Sogeking! Get yourself down here already!"

Maria watched as the figure up on the roof disappeared from sight, and then she looked between Zoro and Sanji. "So, where to now?"

"There's a path we can take under the water that will take us to the bridge that Franky and Robin-chan are on," Sanji stated. " _I'm_ leading the way, even though the path is so clear that not even Moss Head could get himself lost."

Before Zoro could is sure a retort to Sanji's jab, there came a sudden explosion from out in the sea, causing the trio to turn their heads sharply and look out the hole in the wall.

Maria's eyes widened considerably when she saw the giant plume of smoke rising up from what looked like a line of black in the distance. "Usopp didn't fire that, did he?"

"No..." Sanji frowned. "That sounded more like a cannon ball hitting its target."

"A cannonball?" Maria blinked a couple times. "But..where did it come from?"

"Probably the battleships that are going to be answering the Buster Call," Zoro responded. "It blew a hole in the fence around the island, so it must've been a pretty massive explosion."

"I can tell it was massive by just looking at all the smoke," Maria commented.

"You could easily maneuver a large fleet through that hole," Sanji commented. "And have a look at that -- all the whirlpools that usually surround the island have completely disappeared."

Maria looked down at the water below them, blinking at the clear, unblemished blue. "You mean there were whirlpools down there before?"

"Yeah. I noticed it earlier, when I was getting the keys to Usopp." Sanji took the cigarette out of his mouth for a moment and rolled it around in his fingers. "If the whirlpools aren't around to keep ships out and the Gates of Justice are wide open, then there's nothing to stop the attacks. I guess those whirlpools were only there because the gates were blocking the current's flow into the waterfall."

"Which means that it's going to be smooth sailing for all those battleships," Zoro noted dryly.

Maria tightened her grip on her phoenix-headed red staff. "Then we have to get moving, right? Before they start firing on us?"

"Yeah." Sanji turned and looked up at the roof; Maria could see that there was still a specific someone standing up there. "Hey, Sogeking! Things are about to get ugly, so jump down here!"

"Is that supposed to be a joke?" the figure called back. "First of all, I don't have the same freakish superhuman strength that you guys have, and while I may be brave, my bravery isn't the life-risking kind! I'm a normal superhero, not a super superhero!"

Maria frowned and scratched the top of her head, scrunching the fabric of her baseball cap. "Then why even have 'super' in the title 'superhero', Sogeking?" she questioned as a slight smirk came across her face.

Before Sogeking could respond to Maria's question, there came a loud whistling noise from somewhere behind the amnesiac. The blue-eyed teen caught sight of a roundish, black blur moving across her vision right before the _entire upper half_ of the tower was blown back.

Maria let out a yelp in alarm. "I figured that the top was precariously perched, but that's _really_ dangerous!"

"Usopp!" Zoro and Sanji exclaimed in alarm.

A cloud of dust suddenly rose up as a result of the explosion, making it hard for Maria to see what was going on by the Gates of Justice as well as above their heads.

The dust started to clear after a moment, however, revealing clear sky above their heads...and no sign of the masked sniper.

"He _can't_ be...." Sanji muttered.

Maria knew what the cook was referring to even without him finishing his sentence. The teen swallowed nervously at the thought that he might be, and she hoped great their friend wasn't.

"WHERE ARE YOU USOPP!!" Sanji yelled at the top of his lungs.

As if in response, there came a loud scream from above. Seconds later, a familiar figure was walking down towards where the trio was standing.

"DID SOMEONE SAY MY NAME?!" Sogeking called out mere moments before he slammed head-first into the floor.

Maria flinched back when the long-nose hit the floor, bringing up a cloud of dust as a result of his collision. He amnesiac quickly dashed over and started to help the sniper get to his feet.

"How dare you make us think you were dead!" Sanji and Zoro barked at Sogeking as soon as Maria started to pull him up.

"And you guys couldn't even catch a falling hero?" Sogeking responded shortly. "Some friends you are!"

"With all due respect," Maria replied, moving Sogeking's right arm over her shoulders, "we kinda didn't know where you were gonna land until you were right in front of our noses."

Sogeking muttered something under his breath that the amnesiac didn't catch, but Maria guessed that it was a string of curses.

"Do you still have the Snail Phone?" Sanji asked, coming over and holding a hand out.

"Uh...yeah, I do!" Sogeking reached under his red cloak and pulled out the same snail that had been on Nami's person before they had entered the Tower of Law.

Maria blinked a couple times out of surprise when she saw the masked sniper hand it over to the cook. Nami must've given it to him for a reason.

"Hey, Robin-chan, Franky," Sanji stated, speaking directly at the snail on his hand. "We're all okay, and we're going to be heading over there right now." With that, the cook hid the snail inside his suit and looked around at Zoro, Sogeking, and Maria. "Come on. The underground passage to the bridge is this way." He turned and ran out of by he room through the hole in the wall, the swordsman, sniper, and amnesiac following after him.

Going downstairs ended up being a little difficult for Maria and Sogeking, as the amnesiac was lending her sense of balance to the injured long-nose. The blue-eyed teen ended up reaching out for the stone railing for some extra balance while the duo barreled down the stairs after the cook and the swordsman.

Sanji actually stopped Zoro from going any further than halfway across the room by the time that Maria and Sogeking had managed to reach ground level.

"Maria-san, you shouldn't have to lend your strength to him," Sanji stated as Maria and Sogeking made their way over to the cook and Zoro. "He can probably move just fine."

"After slamming head-first into the floor like that? And with all the bandages he's covered in already?" Maria shook her head. "Chopper will probably have a fit when we meet up with the others. Either Sogeking leans on _my_ shoulder, or he's going on _yours."_

Sogeking turned his head to look at Maria with some confusion. "You weren't acting like this before," he noted in Usopp's regular voice.

"Hmm?" Maria turned her head to look at the masked sniper, cocking her head slightly out of curiosity. "What do you mean?"

"You weren't his...I dunno, _demanding_." Sogeking made a noise that sounded like he was clearing his throat, and then he added quickly in a voice that was a few octaves lower, "At least, that's what I remember Usopp telling me. He said you were more quiet and polite."

"That was before I joined up with the Straw Hats and I started to get more of my memories back," Maria replied with a bright grin. She looked back over at Sanji and Zoro, her smile fading slightly as her eyebrows bent a little. "So, are we going to get moving or not?"

Sanji blinked for a moment, then gave a nod. "Right. It's this way." He turned and started running into an opening that branched off the room, Maria, Sogeking, and Zoro giving pursuit.

"So...Luffy _really_ did ask you to join the crew?"

Maria glanced over at the masked sniper and gave a small smile. "Yeah. That was back in Water 7, after Aqua Laguna started. I think I impressed him with my intent to come with them to rescue Robin. I mean, I was already going to travel with the Straw Hats in order to see if I could recover more of my memory, and I wanted to pay them back somehow."

"...Well, you do realize now that you're probably wanted by the World Government, right?"

"I've got some abilities I can rely on to protect myself, and if I can't do that, I have everybody else who can help me out. I'm not too worried."

Sogeking didn't answer Maria's statement, and he instead looked at her for a moment before returning his attention to what was ahead of them. The amnesiac figured that he was thinking over what she had said, so the blue-eyes teen returned her own gaze to Sanji's and Zoro's backs before pushing her speed a little bit.

No use in running to the secret passage if she lost sight of the cook, after all.

**Time Break**

When they reached the underground passage, Maria couldn't help but gawk at the sight that greeted them.

"What blew through these doors?" the amnesiac asked, looking at the warped metal and the large hole that was left in the middle.

"Probably Luffy," Zoro responded, looking at the door with mild interest. "You did say he was fighting Lucci, right?"

"Yeah, but this was kinda unexpected." Maria motioned to the destroyed metal door with her right hand, as he left was wrapped around Sogeking in order to keep him up. "This metal looks like it's pretty thick, so it'd take a pretty powerful attack in order to get a hole like this."

Sanji gave a nod in agreement, then sent a stream of smoke out of his mouth. "Well, we're not going to get anywhere if we just stand around and gawk. We've got to catch up with the others." The blond cook stepped over the metal rubble on the ground and started moving down the passage. Zoro quickly moved to follow after him, and Maria carefully moved over the metal after the both of them, careful not to let Sogeking trip his feet against anything.

As soon as Maria and the masked sniper were past the metal debris, the entire tunnel suddenly shook with a low rumble.

"What was that?" Sogeking asked, looking around quickly.

"It's probably more cannon fire," Zoro called back. "They're starting to hit the island."

"Then I'm glad we got down here when we did," Maria commented. "We should probably get moving before this end of the tunnel collapses because of the Buster Call."

Zoro and Sanji nodded in agreement, and the two turned and started moving quickly through the dimly lit tunnel.

Sogeking made a nervous noise, and he started to move forward quickly, forcing Maria to quickly move her feet to prevent herself from getting dragged on the stone floor. However, thankfully, the fast pace the masked sniper set up allowed Maria and him to keep up with Zoro and Sanji without falling too far behind -- not that it would have mattered at this point because the tunnel was just a straight path that led to where Robin and the others were.

The group ran in silence for a few minutes before someone decided to break it.

"So, you're part of Luffy's crew now, huh?" Sogeking suddenly asked, panting as the group continued moving.

"Yeah. Like I said, I was going to be traveling with them in order to see if I could get more of my memories back. After we heard about what had happened to Robin, I asked if I could help them get her back. That's when Luffy asked me if I wanted to join up."

"A-and the staff?"

"I found out about it before we got to Enies Lobby -- before the attack on Iceberg, even. Ever since then, though, I've been getting more questions than answers about myself. Weird creatures...weird powers...."

"Speaking of weird, I'm starting to hear this weird sound," Sogeking commented. "Do you guys hear anything?"

Maria frowned in confusion upon hearing Sogeking's question, and she tired to strain her ears in order to see if she could hear what Sogeking had heard. "How weird is this weird sound? Because I'm not really hearing anything."

"Meh, you probably hit your head so hard that you're probably hearing things," Sanji remarked offhandedly.

"Yeah, that's probably it," Zoro agreed.

"Sh-shut up!" Sogeking barked back. "Unlike you guys, I have a fine-tuned sense of perception, and I can tell that there's something strange up ahead. Without a doubt, we're gonna get hit with a large amount of water!"

Maria's eyes widened in surprise upon hearing Sogeking's declaration.

"Water?" Sanji repeated. "Why would we get hit with water? They probably built this tunnel so that nothing like that would ever happen!"

"I am telling you, I am hearing water up ahead!"

"You're just being paranoid because you don't want to run into anymore Marines," Zoro grumbled.

Maria frowned. "You don't trust his sense of judgement?"

"This guy lies all the time in order to try and stay out of fights, Maria-san," Sanji responded, turning partway around and jabbing a thumb in Sogeking's direction. "I wouldn't worry too much about what he's saying."

"No, I am telling the truth this time!" Sogeking argued. "There _is_ water up ahead, and we _are_ going to drown if we don't turn around!"

"And go right into the middle of the Buster Call?" Sanji demanded. "Usopp, are you insane?"

"Eh...er...."

Maria frowned as she listened to the three boys argue over whether the sniper had actually heard something or not. The amnesiac started to strain her ears to see if she could actually hear something up in the tunnel ahead or not, wondering if Usopp was telling the truth.

"Hey, you can hear it, right, Zoro?" Sogeking suddenly asked, turning his head to look at the swordsman.

Zoro looked back and frowned for a moment, his eyes drifting further down the tunnel before he gave a nod. "Yeah...I think you're right on this one."

Sanji made a spluttering noise.

"I've got a bad feeling about this," Zoro muttered.

And that's when Maria's ears finally started to pick something up: the noise was loud and sounded like something was making a roar-like noise ahead of them...like some kind of river or waterfall running at high speed....

Maria's blue eyes widened. "I think I can hear it, too."

"Then stop already!" Sogeking yelled in Maria's left ear, causing the amnesiac to flinch a little.

"There's no where else to go!" Sanji barked back. "We're going to have to keep moving!"

As soon as Sanji said that, though, the group of four caught sight of something and came to a sudden halt.

"I knew it," Sogeking whimpered as the four stated at the wall of water suddenly rushing towards them through the tunnel.

"Hey, look!"

Maria looked over at Zoro curiously. "What is it?"

"I can see Nami, and she's with that Kokoro woman," the swordsman stated quickly. He motioned towards the wall of water, and Maria quickly looked over at the frothing wave that was working its way towards them. Her eyes widened when she saw the four figures managing to barely keep up with the wave as it made its way towards them.

"Chimney and that rabbit are with them, too!" Maria added quickly.

Nami's voice suddenly came rocketing through the tunnel.

"WELL, DON'T JUST STAND THERE! DO SOMETHING ABOUT THE WATER!!"

"Well, I'm open to suggestions," Zoro called back in reply.

"I don't think I'd be able to do anything," Maria commented, swallowing.

"I WARNED YOU!!" Sogeking simply yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Nami, she's...." Sanji trailed off for a bit before his voice changed from slight panic to a full "I'm in love!" tone. "She's rushing right into my arms!"

"Ooh, I wonder why?" Sogeking responded with a sarcastic tone.

"Maybe because she doesn't want the water to have her?" Maria commented dryly.

"Damnit," Zoro cursed. "We're stuck in here!" He looked around for a moment, then rushed for one of the walls of the tunnel, quickly pulling out a sword and slashing at the stones with the blade. After only three cuts, he stopped and stared at the wall in amazement.

"I can't cut it!" Zoro exclaimed. "What is this stuff?"

"We're underwater, remember?" Sanji replied. "If those were regular stones, then they probably would have collapsed under the water pressure!"

"Besides, if you _could_ cut it, that would only make the situation worse!" Maria yelped.

"Then there's no way to escape?!" Sogeking cried out.

It was right then that the water decided to suddenly pick up speed and rush over everybody in the tunnel. Maria soon lost her grip on the sniper and was sent flying back as a result of the force of the water running into the amnesiac.

Maria could feel the force of the blow form the water trying to push the air from her lungs, but the amnesiac did her best to hold it in by clamping her hands over her mouth. The salt from the sea started to sting at her eyes, and she closed her eyes in order to protect her blue orbs.

Maria gritted her teeth as the air inside her tried to come out. _I can't die now! I don't have all my memories back yet! I_ have _to get out of here somehow!_

It was at this point that Maria felt something bump into her from behind and push in against her from all sides -- it almost felt like she was being pulled. Curiosity won out against the fear of her eyes getting stung by the salty water, and the amnesiac cracked an eye open in order to see what was going on.

_A...a tail? W-wait...is that --?!_

"I'm swimming just as fast as this tail will let me! None of you are going to die on my watch!"

_Granny Kokoro is a mermaid?!_

While Maria's mind was trying to process what she was seeing, her body was going to have none of it while she was underwater losing her air. Plus, the fact that a woman who was described as "Monster Granny" could even be a _mermaid_ pretty much put all actual thought on hold.

Whether Maria lost consciousness because she couldn't hold the air in or because she just couldn't understand what she was seeing, the amnesiac would never know.


	32. Meet the Missing Member

**Memory Break**

_"Swamp, we're going to have to dive if we want to get to Sootopolis and out of this storm!" Maria yelled at the creature she was riding. Rain pelted down from a bright sky as lightning crackled and the temperature skyrocketed and dropped, making the teen shiver one moment and sweat the next._

_The blue head of the Pokemon Maria was riding on turned so that his eyes could lock with the girl's. "Are you sure?"_

_"I'm positive! I remember some other Trainers talking about how hard it was for them to be able to get into the town -- the entire thing's surrounded by a dormant volcano!" Maria had to raise her voice because of the roaring winds, but all Swamp had to do was speak at his normal volume -- normal for him underwater, that is._

_"All right. Going down!"_

_The blue body Maria was sitting on suddenly lurched, and Maria leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Swamp's neck as the Pokemon suddenly tipped forward and went under the surface of the shifting waves._

**Memory Break**

Maria felt her chest suddenly get stomped on, and _something_ forced its way up her throat and out of her mouth, leaving her coughing and hacking as the rest of her body started to come to.

The teen's eyes were what focused first, and Maria found herself blinking rapidly in order to get the salt out of them while she stared up at a bright blue sky complete with fluffy clouds and an angry yellow ball of fire up in the middle of her line of sight.

A confused feeling went through Maria -- wasn't she just in a tunnel underwater a minute ago? Then everything else came back in a rush: the water rushing in, getting rescued by something, losing consciousness.... The amnesiac took another deep breath and let out another round of coughing. That would explain why she was soaked through and why her chest was aching.

Slowly, Maria's hearing started to return, and she could hear other voices coughing and hacking. Figures started to sit up and block some portions of the sky, and Maria decided it was high time for her to sit up, as well. The problem with that, though, was that her arms weren't doing too well with keeping her upright.

So, Maria held out her right hand and summoned her staff, and she gripped it with both hands while she clambered to her feet, still coughing and hacking.

"I need an energy boost," Maria muttered to herself, frowning at the wooden floor under her feet. She raised her head and started to look around at where she was, as well as trying to see if there was anything the amnesiac could eat...or absorb.

Maria -- as well as the other Straw Hats -- were on the deck of what looked like some kind of ship. And they weren't alone, either -- Maria recognized the turquoise-colored hair of Franky, and was surprised to see that all the man wore was a pair of sunglasses, an unbuttoned Hawaiian shirt, and a pair of Speedos. What really gained a confused expression from her, though, was that Franky had a metal nose.

There was also Granny Kokoro, who was wearing her jacket zipped open, revealing a pair of seashells on her chest -- Maria knew what they were covering and remembered a second later what she had seen before losing consciousness.

The amnesiac quickly turned her gaze away from the woman, trying to keep her questions about _what had happened down in the tunnel_ at bay...only to lock eyes with a woman who had dark hair and a curious expression on her face.

Maria blinked a couple times before she remembered that this was the woman that Luffy had declared they were going to rescue.

Maria offered a shaky smile in the woman's direction. "Hi. Robin, right?" She moved over to where the woman was standing, being careful to step over what looked like an unconscious, soaked Chopper. _When did he get there? I don't remember seeing him in the tunnel._

"Yes, that's right," Robin replied, giving Maria something of a curious, wary expression. "And you are?"

"Maria. I'd ask you to shake my hand, but I kinda don't want to lose my balance." Maria put her left hand closer to the head of her phoenix staff and offered a nervous chuckle.

"Maria...?" Robin frowned curiously. "I think I heard about you. You're the girl who lost your memory, right? The one who stayed at the shipwrights' docks?"

"Yeah. I ran into the Straw Hats last night and they offered to help me get them back. When I offered to help them rescue you, Luffy asked me to join the crew. I decided not to refuse him." Maria gave Robin a half-smile. "And even if I had refused, I still would have helped."

Robin gained a surprised expression, then offered a small smile in return. "Welcome aboard then, Maria."

"GAAAH! IT WASN'T A NIGHTMARE!!"

Maria and Robin turned to look over at the other members of the Straw Hat crew who were actually conscious -- Zoro, Sanji, and Sogeking. Sogeking, who had yelled, looked like he was the most freaked out of all of them as they stared at Kokoro.

"So all those old sailor tales really _weren't_ true!" Zoro yelped, wide-eyed. "They don't see a mermaid, they see a dugong!"

Maria blinked a couple times upon seeing the swordsman's reaction. _Usopp_ she had expected to be terrified, but Zoro? Really? The amnesiac had gotten the impression from him that he wasn't one to be afraid of anything.

"You idiots, she hasn't even confessed to _being_ a mermaid yet," Sanji responded, having turned around so that he wouldn't have to look at Kokoro. "Don't go and kill my fantasies."

"Technically, I'm an Icefish Mermaid," Kokoro commented, still looking at the boys.

Maria's eyes widened. "There are specific kinds of mermaids?"

"Apparently," Robin responded, her blue eyes twinkling with humor and interest at what was happening in front of them.

"Stop it," Sanji ground out, still not turning around. "Don't say another word!"

"There's no way!" Sogeking gulped. "What kind of mermaid lives on dry land and has legs and feet?"

Maria perked up when she heard the sniper ask this. Finally, she could start getting some answers on what exactly Kokoro was able to do.

Meanwhile, Sanji was having some kind of controlled temper tantrum on the deck, complaining about Kokoro's appearance and trying to say what mermaids should be more like.

"When mermaids reach the age of thirty their tails split in two and they're able to walk on dry land," Kokoro explained.

"They do?" Maria asked, blinking in surprise.

Kokoro glanced back at the amnesiac and laughed. "We sure do! Makes it a heck of a lot easier to get around above water, believe me."

Sanji burst into loud tearful cries, but Maria somehow managed to ignore them.

"If you kids ever make it out to Fishman Island, you'll know what I'm talkin' about," Kokoro added, glancing back at the convulsing Sanji, who was hitting the deck with a clenched fist. Sogeking and Zoro were already on their feet, looking fine despite their relatively recent swim.

Speaking of which....

Maria glanced over at Franky. "I saw what you did earlier out on the balcony. How did you get all that fire to appear?"

Franky gave Maria a large grin. "I can breathe fire when I want to, lil sis! It's part of the modifications I gave to my body when I turned myself into a super cyborg. That's half human, half metal."

Maria's eyebrows arched. "A cyborg?" She frowned slightly. "Why did you want to do that?"

"I didn't want to. I had to." Franky looked a little sullen. "Would've died otherwise."

"Oh." Maria blinked a couple times before she asked her next question. "You mind doing your flamethrower thing? I kinda need an energy boost."

Franky raised an eyebrow. "Why would my Fresh Fire help you get an energy boost?"

"I can absorb it."

Robin looked at Maria with no small amount of surprise while the others turned to look at the amnesiac.

"Absorb it? Are you serious?" Franky appeared dubious.

"Yup." Maria kept a straight face as she spoke. "I can show you, but only if you breathe fire."

Franky frowned, but then he let out a sigh of annoyance and waved a hand carelessly before lowering his sunglasses over his eyes. "Fine, fine. Just give me a sec."

The man with the metal nose started to inhale, and Maria watched with no small amount of eagerness as Franky's chest expanded.

"Fresh...Fire!"

A stream of flames burst out of Franky's mouth, and Maria quickly reached out with her left hand into the flames. "Flash Fire!"

Instantly, the flames from Franky's flamethrower attack started curling up Maria's left arm and disappeared into her shoulder, getting wide-eyed looks from everyone on deck who had actually come to.

The sight was enough to cause Franky to spit out the rest of his Fresh Fire really quickly, giving Maria a more sudden jump in energy than when she had started absorbing.

"OW!" Franky exclaimed. "That's some power you've got there, lil sis!"

Maria grinned at the cyborg's comment, then leaned less on her staff and let her left arm dangle easily. Now that she had more energy, her chest wasn't aching so much, and she felt like she had her balance back.

"Did you eat a Devil Fruit?" Robin asked the amnesiac, curious.

Maria glanced over at the dark-haired woman and gave a small smile. "The Marines may _think_ so, but I _know_ that I _didn't_."

"You didn't?" Robin looked surprised. "But that shouldn't be possible."

Maria shrugged helplessly. "I don't remember how I got these abilities, but I definitely didn't eat a Devil Fruit."

"ROBIN!"

Maria jumped in surprise when Nami suddenly came barreling out of nowhere with Chopper dangling from her shoulders. The navigator slammed into Robin and enveloped the woman in a hug.

"I'm so glad we came here in time!" Nami exclaimed, tears in her eyes as she pulled back from the hug a little. "You're not hurt, are you?"

"Robin's back!" Chopper yelled, tears also coming from his eyes.

"Yes," Robin replied. "Because of all of you. Thank you so much."

Nami and Chopper broke down into whimpering sobs.

"Don't mention it!" Nami said through her tears.

Maria gave a smile of relief at the sight of Nami and Chopper reuniting with Robin. The amnesiac didn't know the woman too well -- despite the peak into her past from twenty years ago -- so Maria wasn't all that teary-eyed as a result.

It was at this point that Chopper suddenly fell off Nami's back and landed on the deck.

"Huh?" Nami recovered from her crying fest as she, Maria, and Robin looked down at the little reindeer. "What's wrong, Chopper?"

"Are you all right?" Robin asked.

Maria frowned in curiosity as she waited for the reindeer to answer.

"I...I can't move my body," Chopper realized, lifting his head and looking at himself. Maria could clearly see his arms and legs trembling, but they weren't actually _moving._

"What could have happened that would have caused that?" Maria asked, cocking her head slightly as she looked down at the crew's doctor.

"I'm not surprised."

Maria lifted her head when she heard Zoro's voice, and she caught sight of him standing on a set of stone stairs that led up away from the ship.

"Don't worry about it; I'll explain everything later, okay?" Zoro called down. The swordsman then turned and started moving up the stairs.

"What's up that way?" Maria asked, frowning out of confusion.

"The Bridge of Hesitation," Robin explained. "We're on the other side to the Gates of Justice."

Maria's eyes widened, and her face paled a little bit. "The other side of the Gates of Justice?" She looked up the stairs -- catching sight of Sogeking's red cape going up it -- before looking over at Robin. "If I go up the stairs, will I see past the gates to Enies Lobby?"

The dark-haired woman hesitated for a moment, then gave a slight nod.

Maria gave a slight nod herself, then turned to look at the stairs again. "I think I'm going to go and have a look." She dashed off the ship and up the stone stairs after Zoro and Sogeking.

The amnesiac soon reached the top of the stairway and slowed to a stop and stood between the swordsman and the sniper. The sight that greeted her was one that she didn't exactly want to see, but was one that she had expected.

"Hard to believe that was the same island we were on not too long ago," Zoro commented grimly.

"Yeah...." Maria agreed quietly.

The entire island looked like it was on fire. Not all of the buildings were actually burning, but Maria could tell that the Buster Call was really starting to get into play. She thought back to what they had done on the island, and the amnesiac hoped that Paulie and the others were still alive.

Although, Maria was starting to get more worried about the Straw Hats' safety...considering that there were two large green-and-black ships that were on either side of the stone bridge.

"What's up with this attack?" Sogeking asked. "It's like a sea of flames out there!"

"If it were just that, I could probably run in there and do a massive Flash Fire in order to stop the island from being destroyed," Maria commented grimly in reply. She tightened her grip on her staff.

"I noticed something else."

Maria, Zoro, and Sogeking turned around, catching sight of Franky making his way over to them.

"They seem to be avoiding firing on where Nico Robin's at," Franky continued.

Maria frowned in confusion, then looked up at the battleships on either side of them again. "Yeah...they're not firing on us right now. Why is that?"

"I think they still want to capture her alive," the cyborg stated grimly. "After they take care of Enies Lobby, they'll probably come after us with some hand to hand combat in order to claim her."

Maria's grip tightened on her phoenix staff and looked up at the battleships. Hand to hand...she didn't know how she was going to fare in that, but she hoped she was going to be better off than when she had attempted to face Airam.

"I don't like the sound of that," Sogeking muttered. "We're at our limit here! On top of that, those ships probably have some pretty powerful guys on board! Where's Luffy?"

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard Usopp's question. "Yeah...where _is_ our captain?"

"Where I last saw him is what's left standing of the first tower at the other end of the bridge," Franky replied.

Maria's eyes scanned the bridge with a curious expression on her face. She caught sight of what Franky meant a moment later -- at the other end of the bridge, it looked like there was a large plume of smoke rising up from a rounded tower that had been chopped off rather jaggedly.

Just what was going on over there?

"He's fighting that damn pigeon guy," Franky added. "Y'know, Rob Lucci."

"Still?" Maria asked, blinking a couple times. "He must be pretty difficult, then, since everybody else got clobbered, right?"

"He's close by," Sogeking noted. He started walking forward. "We should go help him!"

"Don't even bother," Zoro responded, stopping Sogeking short. "That pigeon bastard he's fighting is no ordinary man. No good could come of us interfering. If we did, who knows what would happen."

Maria swallowed nervously at the thought. She hadn't seen Lucci since the attack on Iceberg and when he had Finger Pistol'd her in the chest, and she didn't necessarily want to be on the receiving end of an attack like that again.

"Those battleships could turn this way at any time," Zoro continued. "We need to make sure we still have an escape route. The plan is to stay here and wait for Luffy. That's the best we can do."

Maria looked at the green-haired swordsman with a blank, albeit slight nervous, look on her face. She could feel her heart speed up at the thought of being forced to wait while the captain fought his battle alone, but Zoro obviously wasn't about to let anyone go and try to help Luffy in his fight. So she decided to do what he suggested and stay put.

"The storm is just beginning," Zoro stated quietly.

Sogeking paused for a moment, then gave a nod. "Understood."

There came the sound of a sudden explosion from the towers on the other end of the bridge, causing Maria to jump a little. "If they're making explosions like that, then that fight is definitely serious."

Zoro glanced over at Maria, then gave a slight nod.

"Hey, Franky."

Maria inclined her head a little when she heard Sanji's voice, and she turned her head to look behind her in order to see the cook standing behind the cyborg, a smoke-trailing cigarette stuck in his mouth.

"Think your friends are okay?" Sanji asked quietly.

Franky didn't move for a minute, standing and seemingly glaring at the burning island. Maria wondered what it was that was going through his head right at that moment.

Franky suddenly let out a laugh and turned around to look at Sanji. "Are you serious? Nothing can stop the Franky Family! Don't you worry -- I'm sure they got away."

The cyborg turned around and looked back at the burning island, the grin on his face fading to what Maria thought looked like something of a concerned expression. She figured that Franky was probably worried for his friends, despite the cool, happy demeanor he was putting on.

Despite herself, as the amnesiac turned to look at Enies Lobby again, Maria found herself thinking back to something that Airam had said.

" _You won't have much longer before this entire island goes up in flames, which I'm sure you'll manage to survive. Good luck getting your friends out of that alive!"_

"Okay, she's ready!" Nami called out from behind. "We can leave anytime! As soon as Luffy gets here, we'll set sail immediately!"

"Sounds good," Zoro responded without looking back.

Maria nodded in agreement, not taking her eyes off the smoke in front of her. It was so thick now that it was almost impossible to see the island.

"Since no one else is saying it, I think I will," Sanji spoke up. "Right now, there are about as many battleships as there are us. No matter when we leave, escape from this place is going to be virtually impossible."

Maria hummed nervously. "I'm not sure I like those odds."

**"This is a report from the Main Island Front Gate."**

Maria stiffened a little when she heard the unfamiliar voice echoing through the air. Was he using some kind of loudspeaker or something?

**"All personnel on Enies Lobby have been collected and accounted for. We have also identified about fifty pirates and two mutinous giants who attempted to escape through the Front Gate here in the northwest."**

"Giants?" Maria repeated in confusion.

"It's them!" Sogeking identified.

"Zambei and the others!" Franky exclaimed, shifting his sunglasses up to perch them on top of his head. "What did I tell ya? Sounds like they're home free!"

Maria smiled in relief. "Paulie's with them, so he's probably safe, too."

"No need to worry about that bunch," Franky continued. "Even with thousands of Marines after them, they still won't die!" The cyborg burst out into loud laughter. "I'm tellin' ya, this one time those guys --"

**"We intercepted them with a full barrage of cannon fire."**

Franky's laughter stopped short, and Maria paled.

**"They have been eliminated; all targets are now presumed dead."**

_No...._ Maria bit her lower lip to keep a yell of terror from escaping her lips. _Paulie! Lulu! Tilestone!_

**"In the island's current condition, all chances of survive are presumed impossible. Repeat: the number of survivors on Enies Lobby is zero.**

**"This is a report from Battleship 2: The Court House and the Tower of Law located at the southeast corner of the island, as well as the underground passage connecting the main island with the Bridge of Hesitation, have all been destroyed. The only remaining target is the Bridge of Hesitation."**

"Uh-oh," Maria muttered worriedly.

"Franky...." Sogeking murmured.

"They killed all of them," Sanji muttered.

"The Franky Family, and those shipwrights from Galley-La," Zoro continued.

Maria could feel tears coming to her eyes upon hearing the swordsman say that, and she turned her head away as a memory quickly came and went in her mind.

**Memory Break**

_"Say, kid, what do you think you're doing?"_

_Maria climbed up out of the canal and onto the walkway, scowling back at the boat she had dove off just a minute ago. "Getting away from those stupid doctors. Nothing they're doing helps, and I don't exactly want to be some guinea pig for memory recovery experiments." She turned her head and looked up, only for her eyes to widen in surprise upon seeing who was there._

_"...what did you say your name was, kid?" asked the man in front of her. Maria recognized the slicked back blond hair and orange goggles on his head because of where she had been a few minutes earlier -- it was one of the shipwrights who had been working._

_"Kid. Your name."_

_"Huh?" Maria blinked a couple times. "Oh -- it's Maria."_

_"I'm Paulie. Come on -- you stick close to me, kay?" The shipwright held out a hand in order to help the teen get to her feet._

_"S-sure. No problem."_

**Memory Break**

_"It's so bright out here!" Maria complained, putting an arm above her face so that she could see what was going on at the docks better. "You'd think the sun would dial it down a little bit."_

_The blue-eyed, brown-haired teen felt something suddenly get pushed onto her head, and she reached up in order to see what it was. Maria took the item off her head and held it in front of her, turning the red and orange fabric over in her hands._

_"A hat?" Maria asked in confusion._

_"I figured it would be a good idea, if you're going to be spending more time outside," Paulie explained, coming over to stand in front of Maria and look down at the amnesiac. "Works with your clothes anyway."_

_A delighted look crossed Maria's face, and she clamped the hat onto her head and rushed to hug Paulie. "This is great! Thanks!"_

_"H-hey! No need for any of that!" Paulie pried Maria's arms off him so that the shipwright could get out of the hug he had been trapped in._

**Memory Break**

Maria felt a shudder run down her spine when she realized that she wasn't ever going to be able to be close to Paulie ever again.

"Oimo...Kashi...." Sogeking stated helplessly. Maria glanced over at the masked sniper and noticed that his entire body seemed to be trembling -- from what, however, she wasn't exactly sure. The amnesiac didn't recognize the names, either, deciding to put them off as close friends Sogeking may have gained over the course of the battle on the island.

The amnesiac was lost in these thoughts when she noticed that one of them had started to move.

Franky took a few steps forward, moving ahead of the rest of the group to stand on the bridge alone. After taking in a breath, he yelled, "Hurry up, Straw Hat! Your friends are all here! They're waitin' for ya! Come on! You hear me? You better not die -- I won't accept it!"

Maria looked at the back of the cyborg with amazement. Even when faced with the death of his friends...he wasn't crying. He continued to cheer on the one who was actually still fighting.

The amnesiac wondered at this, and, at the same time, she felt a pang in her chest, but she didn't understand why.


	33. In Fighting, There's No Hesitation

"Come on, Luffy...." Sogeking muttered. "The suspense is killing me!"

The sniper, the cook, the amnesiac, the swordsman, and the cyborg were standing in front of the archway that led down to their escape ship -- which, Maria now realized, was a Marine ship that had been taken over by the people who were trying to escape.

Maria quietly shifted herself from one foot to the other, gripping her staff in her right hand while her left remained a balled fist at her side. Maria had been trying to ignore the wind blowing through her brown hair for a while now, but her head was starting to get cold. Really cold.

However, there really wasn't anything that Maria could do about it, considering that her hat had been blown off her head by the water and Kokoro's fast swimming after the amnesiac had lost consciousness. The red and orange baseball cap could have drifted all the way back to the destroyed Tower of Law by now.

Maria really missed that hat -- Paulie had gotten it for her in order to help keep the sun out of her eyes when she was wandering around the docks in Water 7. And now that Paulie was gone....

Maria shook her head, trying to get that thought out of her mind. She didn't want to think about that right now.

There came the sudden sound of an explosion in front of them, and Maria raised her head to look at the tower where Franky said Luffy had been fighting Lucci. The amnesiac could barely see what looked like a flash of light moving out of sight, and more smoke had started to rise from the tower.

"Luffy!" Sogeking exclaimed, worry clearly resounding in his voice.

Maria's own eyebrows scrunched together out of concern and worry. "Come on...if our crewmates could take care of them, then you can, too."

"That Lucci guy's strong as hell," Franky commented. "We're lucky we've got Straw Hat to hold him back. I know he could have killed me...could have killed all of us if he had gotten the chance."

Maria nodded in agreement and glanced down at her chest, relieved that the place Lucci had slammed his finger into her wasn't aching.

"He's not...gonna die, is he?" Sogeking asked quietly.

"Are you stupid?" Zoro replied flatly.

"Gah!" Sogeking turned sharply to glare at the swordsman. "What did you say?! You're stupid...stupid!"

Maria sighed and shook her head at the childish response, not really feeling like laughing at the boys' antics.

A loud explosion of cannon fire suddenly caused Maria to stiffen and look ahead. Her eyes widened in shock when she saw what was going on directly in front of them. Wanting to get a better look, she ran forward, the others following close at the amnesiac's heels.

 **"The first support column of the Bridge of Hesitation has been severed!"** declared the voice of a Marine while part of the stone bridge fell in smoke, essentially cutting the Straw Hats off from being able to reach Luffy later -- or vice versa.

"What the hell?" Sanji demanded as the group came to a stop at where the gap in the bridge started. "They blew up half the bridge!"

"Yeah, but why?" Sogeking asked.

**"Straw Hat Luffy and Rob Lucci of CP9 are both inside the support column! All ships, take up combat positions around the Bridge of Hesitation!"**

"Oh, boy...." Maria commented with a slightly nervous tone. "That doesn't sound good."

**"On the bridge of the escort ship, we've identified ten pirates, including Pirate Hunter Zoro and Nico Robin!"**

"Pirate Hunter?" Maria repeated, glancing over at the swordsman. "They mentioned that title before...."

Zoro shrugged. "I wasn't always a pirate."

**"We believe that these are the culprits who defeated CP9 in the Tower of Law!"**

Zoro reached for his swords, tightening his grip on the one with the white hilt. "They're coming to take Robin back," he noted grimly.

Maria's eyes widened upon hearing this revelation, and she shifted her hands so that both of them were gripping her staff.

"Looks, guys -- over there!" Sogeking pointed across the gap in the bridge with his staff-slingshot towards a large hole in the wall of the support column on the other side.

Maria followed the weapon down into the hole, frowning as she tried to look past the clouds of dust that were rising from the hole. The amnesiac squinted a little bit as she tried to make out what was inside. She could barely see two figures, and one of them looked like....

"HEY, LUFFY!! WE MADE IT!!" Sogeking started to wave his arms above his head, as though that would help get Luffy's attention even more than his voice did.

"EVERYONE GOT TO THE BRIDGE SAFE AND SOUND!!" Franky added. "DON'T YOU WORRY! WE'RE ALL DOIN' FINE!!"

"WE EVEN RESCUED ROBIN, JUST LIKE WE SAID WE WOULD!!" Sogeking continued.

"ALL YOU'VE GOTTA DO IS BEAT THAT GUY!!" Sanji raised a fist into the air.

"WE'LL BE WAITING!!" Franky yelled again. "I KNOW YOU CAN DO IT!!"

"DON'T GIVE UP, LUFFY!!" Zoro called.

Maria decided to add her own two cents. "WE'RE COUNTING ON YOU!!"

"WE'RE ALL GONNA MAKE IT!!" Sogeking screamed.

"WE'RE ALL GOING BACK!!" Sanji yelled.

Maria figured that Luffy should have heard their screams, but the amnesiac couldn't exactly tell because of how far they were from where the Straw Hat captain was.

"Now it's just a matter of how long we can hold off these damn Marines," Zoro commented, moving away from the edge of the bridge.

Maria took a couple steps back herself and looked up at the Marines battleships that were now on all sides of the stone bridge while Franky and Sogeking did the same.

The amnesiac gripped her staff as fire started to flicker along its surface. "Looks like we're going to be in for it."

**"Those with rank below Lieutenant Commander, stay put. To the two hundred elite Captains and Commanders, engage the enemy, and wipe them out immediately!"**

"Captains from Headquarters?!" Sogeking yelped. "All these guys are in the same class as that Smoker guy from before?! There's like a billion of 'em!"

Maria didn't necessarily recognize the name "Smoker," and decided against asking now if they had mentioned him when the Straw Hats were recounting their adventures to her the night before.

"Only thing that proves is that they're afraid of us," Zoro replied calmly.

Maria noticed how calm Zoro was and wondered if he wasn't worried about what they were about to face. Maria was certainly nervous -- something about all this felt different, somehow, and the amnesiac wasn't exactly sure what that gut feeling meant.

"Hold on -- where'd Sanjii go?" Sogeking started to look around, getting Maria to send the sniper a curious look.

"What do you mean?" The amnesiac glanced around the bridge, a frown appearing on her face when she realized that the blond cook was nowhere to be seen. "He was up here a second ago."

"Dammit," Zoro cursed, looking around himself. "The one time I actually want that stupid cook around and he runs away."

"He doesn't seem like the kind of guy to run away, though..." Maria frowned. "Besides, _I'm_ here."

"What does that have to do with anything?" Franky asked, frowning himself.

"That damn cook wouldn't want to leave a girl alone for a second," Zoro replied, his frown deepening. "He'd better have a damn good reason to leave without trying to defend her first." He jabbed a thumb in Maria's direction, causing the amnesiac to nod in agreement.

That's when loud yells started to come from above, and Maria jumped a little before looking up at the battleships.

"Are those...battle cries?" Maria asked quietly.

"Stop trying to show off -- just attack already!" Zoro clearly wanted to just get this over with.

"Now this should be fun," Franky commented, grinning as he started to stretch his arms. "I could always use some more heads to bust."

Maria and Sogeking simply exchanged nervous glances; the amnesiac set her jaw and gritted her teeth.

"We're going to have to face them sooner or later," Maria commented somewhat grimly. She started to twirl her staff in front of her. "May as well get this over with."

Zoro pulled two of his swords out with a flourish. "No matter what happens, we can't give them an inch! Until Luffy makes it here, we have to hold our ground."

"DESTROY THEM!!" came a yell from one of the battleships. Instantly, people started to jump off the ships, still yelling at the tops of their lungs and brandishing their weapons as they came closer to the bridge. "CAPTURE NICO ROBIN!!"

"We're not gonna give her back after all the trouble we went through getting her," Franky commented, scowling.

"You can send me as many Captains as you want," Zoro added. "Let's do this!"

Maria started pouring on the fire over her staff, not stopping her twirling as she gritted her teeth. _Think of it as a fight between Pokemon on a human scale. My skills against their skills. That's pretty much all it is...except I'm more like a Pokemon than anybody else, not counting those Devil Fruit guys._

"You can send him my share of Captains, too!" Sogeking added, pointing frantically at Zoro.

"Here we go." Franky lifted his left arm, and Maria watched with some bewilderment as his left arm shifted somehow, his hand moving off at an odd angle. "Weapons Left!"

Maria's eyes widened in amazement when she saw a cannonball go flying from Franky's arm and collide with a large number of Marines, who cried out upon making contact with the cannonball.

"Whoa." Maria decided that she may as well do the same thing with her own fire, and she moved her staff behind her, still twirling it at high speed while the fire collected on the dragon's head. "All right. Fire Sphere!"

A blazing ball of fire was sent flying forward, colliding with a few Marines and continuing forward to the ship, essentially setting the deck on fire.

"Ow! Nice one!" Franky gave Maria a thumbs-up, and the amnesiac gave a grin in return.

"Taking them on one at a time is too much trouble." Zoro put his white sword into his mouth and took off for another group of still-airborne Marines. "I'll take you all on at once!"

"Witness the power of the Sniper King!" Sogeking declared, pulling back on his slingshot and releasing it. "Sunflower Star!"

Maria's eyes widened with no small amount of amazement as the one pellet Sogeking had sent flying split into multiple ones and hit multiple Marines dead-on.

Quite a few still managed to avoid getting hit, however, and one of the men aimed a large bazooka and fired on Franky.

"Franky!" Maria exclaimed in alarm at the explosion that hit the cyborg dead on.

"I'm all right, lil sis!"

The smoke cleared to reveal Franky with one of his arms in front of his body, the arm somehow expanded even more than it normally was.

"I added my Star Shield specifically for occasions like this," Franky added, grinning as his arm changed to normal size. He turned his attention to the man with the bazooka and gave him a sour glare. "You want to fight with guns? I'll give you guns! Have a taste of my Weapons Left!"

Maria probably would have kept watching Franky's fight out of amazement were it not for the fact that she was suddenly slashed at from out of nowhere by a guy with a sword. The amnesiac was quick to pull up her staff to block the attack, however.

"Aren't you a pretty girl," the Marine in front of her commented with a sly look. "It's a shame you've been roped into helping these pirates."

"Roped into?" Maria scowled at the man, then slipped away from the sword and whacked the Marine over the head. "I joined them because I wanted to, idiot! The Straw Hats have more honor than you Marines ever will!"

The Marine Maria had whacked fell to the ground, but other Marines soon started to rush the amnesiac. "She just insulted us! Get the pirate girl!"

Maria gritted her teeth and shifted her grip on her staff as three Marines with swords came at her at once. Fire blazed up the length of her weapon again, and the amnesiac made a slashing motion with the phoenix staff before the Marines could get too close. She meant it as a way for her to wind up so that she could hit the one who happened to be the closest, but then Maria's eyes widened in surprise when fire came flying off the staff and slammed into the Marines, sending them flying back like they had been hit with that Tempest Kick attack the CP9 agents seemed to be so fond of.

Maria looked down at her staff, a random gust of wind threatening to throw her brown hair into her eyes, but not quite succeeding. Fire blazed across the staff's surface, seeming to flicker between fire and blue and yellow flashes.

The amnesiac heard more cries, and her eyes shot up and locked with the three Marines that were coming towards her. Maria brought her staff up and twirled it before rushing the three men, letting her fire-covered staff slam into them. Much to her surprise, Maria managed to hit them with enough force to send them flying back.

"Whoa...am I really that strong?"

"Keep it up!" Zoro barked from somewhere nearby. Maria could hear metal hitting metal, and suspected that Zoro was in the middle of combating a strong opponent. "We have to keep going so that we can all get out of here with Luffy!"

 _Yeah..._ Maria's eyes narrowed, and she could feel something start to build up strength within her -- a confidence and determination that felt like they belonged. The battle she was participating in...did that have something to do with it?

_I'm not about to let the Marines overpower me or anybody else!_

Maria held her staff up high as more Marines rushed her, and she instinctively managed to send pure energy into the staff. Lightning fast, the dragon head flashed yellow for a moment before a bright flash of yellow energy came flying out and rammed into the Marines around the amnesiac, throwing a good number of them back.

"Lightning Shield," Maria stated as an afterthought, bringing her staff down in front of her again as Marines around her stared at her in shock before shaking the expression off their faces.

As the men rushed her, brandishing their weapons and yelling at the tops of their lungs, Maria's staff flared with fire again, and the teen started whacking Marines over the head and sending fiery shockwaves at her attackers. Occasionally, if she found the chance to, Maria would use Fire Sphere, Icy Wind or the Lightning Shield again. Surprisingly, the amnesiac didn't really feel as drained as she had been before, back when Zoro had been fighting Kaku and she had used Icy Wind for the first time in order to save the swordsman.

The teen didn't know how she was managing to keep up her fiery dance between the different elements, but she wasn't about to stop and question it when her and others' lives were on the line. Maria stored her questions away for later, but it left a wondering confusion in the pit of her stomach: _What exactly am I doing? How can I control fire, ice, and electricity? What kind of person_ was _I before I lost my memories, if I can keep my cool like this in the middle of a fight?_

Meanwhile, at the back of her mind, something murmured, _Level Two: Activate_.

**Franky's POV, 3rd**

The cyborg honestly didn't know what to think of the strange girl who had come along with them. The kid not only had amnesia, but _damn_ , she had some good fighting skills! At least her body seemed to still remember something.

He had seen that electric attack that Maria had somehow used and was glad that he wasn't all that close -- if he had so much as come into contact with those lightning bolts, Franky was sure that some of the circuits in his front half would have shorted out -- maybe even been _burned_ out.

And then there was the whole absorbing fire thing that she was able to do -- how exactly was she able to do that? Did she eat a Devil Fruit or something? Whatever Maria had done, it definitely didn't look like the outcome was anything Franky had ever seen before.

The cyborg underworld boss of Water 7 decided that he was going to ask Maria what she knew about what she was doing when they got out of Enies Lobby.


	34. We're Getting Hemmed In

"LUFFY! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?!"

Maria turned her head when she heard Sogeking yell at the top of his lungs, stopping her fiery dance with her staff for a moment. The fire she had been using to fight the Marines suddenly formed up into a swirling mass around the amnesiac for a moment before it dissipated into the air, revealing to Maria a more cleared-off bridge than what she had seen a few minutes ago.

Which was all fine and good for Maria, because she could see that Zoro was going to need some help keeping the Marines off the sniper's back as he stood at the jagged edge of the bridge, yelling down at where Luffy was for reasons that Maria didn't know.

"GET UP!!! LUFFY!!!"

Maria jumped over in front of a Marine wielding a club and caught the iron thing on her staff, which wasn't covered as much by fire as it had been a moment ago. However, there was still enough there that the tongues of flame somehow managed to jump across the gap between the phoenix staff and the Marine and start burning away at the man's clothes.

Maria quickly slipped to the right, letting the club drop to the ground where she had been standing a moment before. Then Maria brought her staff up like a bat and slammed it as hard as she could into the man in front of her before he could lift up his club again. This action was quickly followed by Maria giving the Marine a good _thwack!_ to the head, causing the man to drop.

 _When he comes to, he's going to have a massive headache,_ Maria noted dryly.

"Two Sword Style: Hawk Wave!"

The amnesiac turned her head when she heard Zoro call out, and she saw a blast of air that looked like it was shaped like a bird slam into a couple nearby Marines and send them flying.

"Who wants their ass kicked next?" Zoro barked, eyes narrow.

Maria looked at the crowd of Marines that was in front of her, each one looking like they were ready to come and slit their throats. The teen twirled her staff for a moment before holding it at an angle behind her, the phoenix head close to the stones of the bridge.

"LUFFY!!! CAN YOU HEAR ME?!!" Usopp yelled from behind the amnesiac.

 _I'm gonna need something besides Fire Sphere, Icy Wind, and Lightning Shield if I'm going to be able to take on more of these guys,_ Maria thought to herself, gritting her teeth. _Maybe something from my past as a Vulpix? I know I used more Fire moves besides Fire Sphere and that Fire Spin move that took out all those Marines who were near me a minute ago._

"LUFFY!! GET UP!!!"

A moment later, a fuzzy shape came to the back of Maria's mind, accompanied by the momentary throb of a headache.

_Yeah. That'll do._

Maria brought her staff in front of her again and started to spin it at high speed while fire covered the wooden construct. As the amnesiac spun it, the fire started to come off in five different directions, gaining the appearance of some kind of fiery starfish.

"DON'T GET THE WRONG IDEA!! I JUST CAME HERE TO SAVE ROBIN, THAT'S IT, ALL RIGHT?!! I DIDN'T COME TO SEE YOU OR YOUR STUPID FACE, UNDERSTAND ME?!!"

Maria stopped spinning her staff and rammed the head of the dragon into the fiery starfish, sending it flying forward while she yelled, "Fire Blast!"

The five-pronged fire attack slammed into the crowd of Marines, creating tracks of fire across the pure white coat-capes that each of them were wearing and sending the men flying back into collapsed heaps. Those who were initially hit with the attack were much worse off than those they were sent flying into, if their yells meant anything.

Despite the situation that Maria was presently in, she hoped that the damage she was doing to them wasn't going to be entirely permanent.

"HEY, YOU!! THE CP9 BOSS CAT!!!"

She also hoped that the feeling of exhaustion she was getting as a result of using that move was going to pass. The amnesiac found herself leaning against her staff, panting heavily and feeling like she had just used up a lot of energy.

Zoro glanced over at Maria after he managed to take down yet another Marine. If he was going to say anything to her, he was quickly cut off by Usopp yelling.

"I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME!! FROM HERE ON OUT, I'M YOUR OPPONENT!! COME AND GET SOME!!!"

Maria turned her head sharply to look over at Usopp, and her eyes widened in alarm. "Usopp, are you crazy?" she yelped, still panting from using all her attacks on the Marines. "Luffy pegged him as _his_ opponent!"

The sniper ignored her. "YEAH! THAT'S RIGHT!! IF YOU MESS WITH ROBIN, THEN YOU MESS WITH ME!! Now listen, and LISTEN GOOD, YOU BASTARD!! I AM A WARRIOR AMONG WARRIORS, THE BRAVEST OF MEN, AND I COMMAND EIGHT THOUSAND MEN!! I AM...THE GREAT CAPTAIN USOPP!!!!"

Maria's eyebrows scrunched together into a look of concern as she looked at Usopp, who had pointed up to the sky as he had yelled at the top of his lungs.

"I'VE SAILED ALL OVER THE GRAND LINE!! I'VE DESTROYED ISLAND AFTER ISLAND, REEKING HAVOC EVERYWHERE I GO!!! AND IF THE WORLD GOVERNMENT WANTS TO GO TOE TO TOE WITH ME, THEN I'LL CRUSH EVERY LAST ONE OF YOU WITH MY LITTLE PINKIE FINGER!!!"

Maria was dubious about that. She thought back and went over what she knew of Usopp so far: he liked pretending to be a superhero, he was pretty good with a slingshot, he had left the Straw Hat crew...and he seemed to be pretty good at bluffing.

Was he trying to bolster his own confidence? Or was he going something else?

"NOW, COME ON UP HERE AND FIGHT ME, IF YOU'VE GOT THE GUTS!!" Usopp continued. "OR ARE YOU JUST A SCAREDY-CAT?!?!"

"Usopp, are you _trying_ to _antagonize_ him?" Maria demanded, moving away from where Zoro was holding off the Marines and closer to the sniper and the edge of the bridge. "You're going to get yourself killed!"

The amnesiac's warning was ignored. "COME GET ME, BOSS KITTY-CAT!! I AM GONNA TAKE YOU OUT!!!"

"There's no point in trying to reason with him!" Zoro yelled. "Now how about you get your ass back over here and give me a hand with these guys?!"

"YOU SHUT UP!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU GOING TO DO ABOUT IT, HUH?!?! YOU'RE ALMOST DEAD!!!"

Maria looked back and forth between the sniper and the swordsman, worried for the life of one while wanting to help the other.

"THEN GET UP!! SHOW HIM WHAT YOU'RE MADE OF!!! STOP LYING AROUND TALKING AND BLEEDING LIKE YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE!!! THAT IS NOT THE LUFFY I KNOW AT ALL!!!"

The amnesiac froze. _Usopp isn't antagonizing Lucci...he's getting on_ Luffy's _nerves!_

"Maria!" Zoro barked.

"EVEN THOUGH IT'S FULL OF SMOKE, WE CAN STILL SEE THE SKY!! WE CAN STILL SEE THE OCEAN!! THIS PLACE ISN'T HELL!! I CAN'T BELIEVE YOU'D LET IT END LIKE THIS!!!"

Maria looked at Usopp for a little while longer, then turned to look at the Marines that Zoro was still fighting. Her exhaustion having faded somewhat, Maria hefted her staff in both hands and twirled it around a couple times before settling on what attack she was planning on using next.

"SO STOP ACTING LIKE YOU'RE ABOUT TO DIE, YOU STUPID BASTARD!! WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU?!!"

"Icy...Wind!" Maria made a horizontal motion with her staff, causing a cold biting wind to blast towards the Marines, ice crystals forming in the air as it went towards them. The targets were instantly pelted in the face and hands by hail just seconds before Zoro slashed past them with his three swords. The Marines fell with cries of pain.

"WHY ARE YOU TRYING TO MAKE US WORRY?! GET UP AND FIGHT!!!"

"Keep that up," Zoro stated, glancing over at Maria. "It'll give you something of a breather, right?"

Maria gave a nod. "Y-yeah. Sure, no problem."

"FINISH HIM!! THEN WE CAN ALL LEAVE THIS PLACE TOGETHER!!!!"

"I'LL WIN TO MATTER WHAT!!!!"

When Luffy's voice came rocketing through the air and hit Maria's ears, she stopped short in prepping another Icy Wind and glanced back for a moment before Zoro barked at her again to keep it coming.

"We don't have time to worry about what Luffy's doing," Zoro stated quickly. "We've gotta take these guys out before they take us out."

"Right." Maria fired off another Icy Wind, allowing Zoro to cut down more Marines. The amnesiac stated preparing her next attack when she caught sight of something further ahead on the bridge.

"It looks like Franky is having some trouble!" Maria called out, looking over at the cyborg. It looked like he was trying to protect himself from what looked like small white balls that were bouncing in from all over the place.

"Eh?" Zoro looked up and over the crowd of Marines. "Oh. I guess he is." He glanced over at Maria. "Let's take care of this group and go help him."

"Sounds good." Maria sent out Icy Wind again, and Zoro slashed down a group of Marines with an "Oni Giri!" The two quickly dashed forward through the gap of Marines, Zoro being the faster of the two, since he managed to get in front of Franky and deflect the balls before Maria had even come to a stop.

"Thanks," Franky grunted. He caught sight of something and reached out with his right hand, grabbing a dark-colored ball. "Hey, where do you think _you're_ going?"

"Uh oh," came a voice.

"Since you like bouncing so much...." Franky's left hand positioned itself at an almost point-blank position on the ball. "Have a taste of my Weapons Left!"

The explosion that followed sent something flying into a nearby battleship, and all that little balls that had been giving Franky trouble a moment ago were sent flying after the head.

"Be careful! Some of these jerks have Devil Fruit powers!" Franky call over the noise of the battle around them.

"Marines have Devil Fruit abilities?" Maria repeated, surprised.

"Some of them. Like that guy I fired off a moment ago. He called it the Berry Berry Fruit or something like that." Franky jabbed a thumb in the direction of the object that he had sent flying off.

"That was a Devil Fruit ability?" Maria frowned. "That was way too weird."

"A lot of Devil Fruits are weird, lil sis. Especially the Paramecia ones."

Maria gave a slight hum in response before another Marine charged up at the two of them. Before the amnesiac could even move, Franky was in front of her and was slamming a metal right fist into the man's gut.

"Strong Hammer!" Franky proclaimed.

The Marine on the business end of the attack was sent flying, much to Maria's surprise.

"This fight had better end soon, or else I'm gonna run out of fuel," Franky muttered.

"I'm already feeling exhausted," Maria commented. A Marine came up on her from the left, but received the head of the dragon staff on his own head, causing the would-be attacker to collapse. "What's even worse is the hat Paulie got me is gone, so I've got nothing to keep the hair out of my face." The amnesiac tucked her hair behind her ears, but a few strands still managed to make their way in front of her face.

If Franky was going to respond to this, he never did.

There came the sudden sound of an explosion, and Maria turned around in order to see where exactly it had come from. Her blue eyes widened in surprise when she saw the round building where Luffy was fighting suddenly lose one of its walls, the stones falling to the sea while clouds of dust rose up from the carnage.

"What just happened?" the amnesiac asked in confusion and horror.

**"A-Attention all ships! I have an urgent report! Just now, Rob Lucci, the most powerful member of CP9, was seen lying lifeless face down on the ground in the first column! I repeat: Rob Lucci has just been defeated by Straw Hat Luffy!!"**

Maria's jaw dropped when she heard the voice echo through the air. A moment later, a delighted grin came over her face, and she raised her left fist into the air. "Yes! Luffy did it!"

"WE'RE ALL GOING BACK TOGETHER!!!" Luffy's voice echoed out across the bridge.

Maria couldn't have agreed more with what her captain had said right then.


	35. A Voice From The Sea

The reactions of the Marines around the Straw Hats -- both on the bridge and on the battleships -- was unease. Maria stayed close to Franky as the Marines around the amnesiac and the cyborg shifted their grips on their weapons and looked in the direction of the column where Luffy had been fighting against the CP9 agent.

"LUFFY WON!!" Usopp screamed at the top of his voice, raising his fists and his staff-slingshot into the air.

"He did it," Franky commented with an approving grin. "Way to go."

"I'm glad that's over," Maria remarked with a tired smile on her face.

"Everybody, head to the escape ship!" Nami called out from somewhere on the bridge. "We're getting out of here!"

"Amen to that!" Maria called back, slamming the butt of her staff down on the ground.

That's when a plethora of faint voices suddenly started to resound through the air, each one cheering. One familiar voice in particular shouted, _::Way to go, Straw Hat!::_

Maria and Franky looked up in surprise upon hearing the voices, the amnesiac blinking a couple times in confusion. _Was that...?_

_ ::You idiots, keep it down!:: _ another familiar voice barked. _::Everyone can hear us!::_

Maria's eyes widened upon hearing _that._ "Did you just hear that?"

Franky gave a nod. "Yeah, but I'm not believing what I'm hearing...."

_ ::Who cares?! We want 'em to know!:: _ the first voice shouted.

_ ::All right, Big Bro!:: _ came a third voice.

"Well, I think we'd better believe it," Maria replied, a grin starting to stretch across her face.

There came a clatter from somewhere nearby, and Maria turned her head before frowning. Usopp had dropped his staff-slingshot and put his hands over his ears, and he was looking around at the crowd with a frantic look on his face. Were the voices too loud for him to handle? Or was it something else?

_ ::Stop it!:: _ barked the second voice again. _::They still think we're dead, remember? You're gonna blow it!::_

Maria's grin stretched even wider. "I know that voice! It's Paulie!"

"It's them..." Franky's body relaxed as he let out a sigh of relief.

_ ::The ropes are gonna break! We're gonna fall!:: _ wailed a voice

_ ::You idiot! Galley-La ropes never break! I told you to keep quiet!::  _ Paulie barked.

_ ::We're all okay! Everybody made it!:: _ came the first voice.

"Zambei," Franky identified.

_ ::That was close! The giants -- they took all the cannon fire for us!:: _

"Kiwi...or is it Mozu?" the cyborg laughed. "I could never tell those two's voices apart!"

_ ::Geddo!:: _

"And Yokazuma!" Maria added.

_ ::Sodom and Gomorrah are okay, too!:: _ another one of the twins added.

_ ::Look, it's not safe for us here:: _ Paulie spoke up again. _::Those battleships'll be comin' back. We need to get moving now::_

_ ::Right!:: _ Zambei responded. _::Listen up -- we've got our escape plan all figured out. Go! Don't worry about us -- let's all leave this place alive!::_

_ ::See you again soon!:: _ one of the twins called -- whether it was Kiwi or Mozu, Maria couldn't really tell, either.

_ ::Time to head out!:: _ the other twin added.

Kiwi and Mozu's voices were quickly followed by the sound of people moving out, arguing about pushing and shoving and hurrying up.

The voices were drowned out pretty quickly, though, because Franky started bawling. Loudly. Maria jumped away from him out of surprise because she hadn't expected the cyborg to start practically crying into her ear.

"Hah! You dummies! I wasn't worried about you at all!" Tears were overflowing from Franky's eyes and creating thick tear tracks down his face while his metal nose started running. Maria didn't even think a metal nose _could_ run. "They made it...they're alive! I'm so happy those idiots made it!"

While Franky continued wailing, Zoro spoke up from nearby, "Agreed. Good for them. What a relief, huh?"

Maria found it somewhat amusing that two men with the exact opposites in personalities were so close together.

"But if you die here, it won't matter," Zoro added.

Franky wiped his right arm across his face, smearing the free-flowing tears and upsetting the salty tracks they had made down his face. "Yeah, you're right."

Maria nodded in agreement, gripping her staff in both hands and looking around at the Marines that now surrounded them. The amnesiac wondered if she should move and start taking them out.

Before Maria could move, one of the Marines nearby pulled a sword from out of nowhere and attacked Franky, who caught the blow easily with one arm while an eager grin appeared on his face.

"Hah! Bring it on, I'll take all o' ya out!"

With that, the brawl started up again. Maria soon found herself surrounded by Marines again while Franky went barreling off yelling attack names and taking out as many Marines as he could. Anyone he came into contact with was sent flying by either a cannonball or a clenched fist attached to a long iron chain.

Nearby, Zoro was setting off his own attacks, and the amnesiac found herself utterly amazed to see him set off an attack that caused the wind to blow a large number of Marines completely off the bridge!

Maria decided she wasn't about to be outdone. She started spinning her staff above her head, and fire started to circle around her form, moving upwards in a dangerous spiral of heat and flames. "Fire Spin!"

The amnesiac's dangerous dance among the Marines followed soon after, her Fire Spin burning the hands of those who happened to get close enough while Maria's staff knocked the wind out of them or simply knocked her opponents out.

** "Understood, sir, but...it's Straw Hat Luffy, sir! He's not moving! He appears to be severely wounded!" **

Maria slammed her staff into a Marine's back, glancing over at the column where Luffy had been fighting against Lucci. "Not moving" and "severely wounded" equalled "that's not good" in the amnesiac's mind.

Apparently, someone else thought the same thing.

"LUFFY!! WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING?! YOU'VE GOTTA GET UP AND GET OVER HERE!! IF YOU DON'T ESCAPE, WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!"

"Usopp!" Maria yelped. She caught sight of a sword coming into her Fire Spin and ducked in order to avoid getting hit. The amnesiac then made it a point to go after the figure who had tried to hit her with the sword in the first place, first knocking the breath out of them by ramming the dragon head into the Marine's stomach before whacking him down.

"WHAT'S WRONG WITH YOU, DAMNIT?! WE'RE ALMOST THERE!! USE YOUR POWERS -- SLINGSHOT YOURSELF OVER HERE!! I'LL CARRY YOU THE REST OF THE WAY!!"

Maria made a worried noise. "But...but he isn't moving. Would he have the strength to do even that?"

"WE'RE SURROUNDED BY SEA AND BATTLESHIPS ON ALL SIDES!! IF WE STAY HERE, WE'RE GONNA BE KILLED!! LUFFY!!!!"

Maria could clearly hear the desperation in Usopp's voice, and her grip tightened on her staff in response.

_ We've got to get out of here...we've got to get these people out of our way so that we can all leave Enies Lobby safely! I can't let my captain die! _

If Maria's would-be attackers noticed anything, it was that the fire the amnesiac had surrounded herself with had suddenly increased in strength and in heat. A resulting mirage was created, making it almost appear as the figure inside the fiery tornado was shimmering.

One minute, she was a teenage girl in an orange jacket red shirt, and jeans, with brown hair flying every which way. The next...she was some kind of fiery demon, with glowing white eyes and her hair rising up in flames. Some reports later claimed that it almost looked like she was wearing some kind of armor _made_ of flames and smoke.

Still, Marines chose to attack her because of Maria's affiliation with the Straw Hat pirates, and those who did ended up knocked out with burn tracks running across their clothes, as well as burns where they came into contact with Maria's phoenix staff.

"LUFFY!! ANSWER ME!! SAY SOMETHING!!"

Maria felt like she we running on adrenaline at this point -- the amnesiac was pretty sure that she had used up a lot of her energy already by conjuring fire, ice, and electric attacks. If they didn't find a way out soon, the teen was sure that she was going to collapse.

"COME ON, DON'T BE STUPID!! YOU JUST BEAT LUCCI, DIDN'T YOU?!! AND WE ALREADY SAVED ROBIN!! THE ONLY THING LEFT TO DO IS RUN!! TRY HARDER!! YOU CAN DO IT!!!"

"Usopp!" Nami called from somewhere nearby. "Let's go and take the ship to Luffy! We can grab him and get him out of here!"

Maria paused in her fiery dance, the flames about her flickering and fading a little bit as the temperature they had dropped a couple degrees. "That sounds like a pretty good idea!"

The amnesiac started moving towards the arch that led down to the ship, but she wasn't able to get too far before a large explosion lit up the smoky sky right over that area. Maria could barely make out what looked like the masts of the ship that was located there.

"No!" Nami panicked. "That's our escape ship!"

"Those bastards!" Franky cursed. "That ship was our only way out of here! Now what are we going to do!"

"Kokoro! Gombei! Chimney! Chopper!" the orange-haired navigator shouted.

"Would my using Flash Fire be of any help?" Maria called out, absorbing her Fire Spin back into herself for a momentary energy boost.

"No, it wouldn't," Nami replied sadly with a quick shake of her head. "The sails have probably burned up by now, and there's a large chance that there's a hole in the bottom of the ship. Our escape ship is useless now."

As if Nami had said the magic words, Maria heard the cracking of wood and watched as the masts suddenly dipped sharply, sending up a cloud of smoke and embers. The amnesiac's breath caught, and she hoped that Kokoro had had the smarts to get everybody off the ship.

That's when her ears picked up the sound of someone yelling.

Maria frowned in confusion before looking around at the others near her -- Usopp was still standing at the broken end of the bridge, and he was probably too far away to hear anything the amnesiac would have said at a normal volume. "Who is that?"

Maria's own question was answered by the person who happened to be yelling. A figure burst through the smoke, carrying Kokoro and Chopper under his arms and with Chimney and the blue meowing rabbit clinging to his shoulders, laughing like they were enjoying themselves.

"WE MADE IT!!" Sanji roared as he dashed out of the smoke.

"Thank goodness!" Nami exclaimed, running over to meet the cook. Maria quickly followed after the navigator, hoping to get some answers for his disappearance earlier.

"Sanji, where did you go?" Maria asked as the cook unceremoniously dropped Chopper and Kokoro on the ground and easily lowered Chimney and her pet rabbit. "We could have used some of your help against the Marines."

"Yeah," Nami agreed.

"Sorry," Sanji replied, looking over at the amnesiac and the navigator, "but there was something I had to take care of."

Maria frowned when she heard this. Something he had to take care of? What did that mean?

"Damn, this is bad," Sanji continued. "We're pretty screwed right now. Never thought that they'd attack us as long as we had Robin-chan here -- I was pretty sure that the bridge and the ship would be safe."

"I guess when the Marines finished their attack, they decided that we should take our turn," Maria spoke up.

Two swords suddenly came out of nowhere and aimed at Maria's and Nami's necks while two hands grabbed at their wrists. The amnesiac let out a yelp of alarm and tried to pull away from the tight grip that had somehow managed to get both her wrists _and_ her staff, but Maria was unable to break free.

"That's enough," spoke a voice from behind Maria. "Release the old lady and the little girl or I'll--"

"There's no time for any of that!" Kokoro suddenly snapped. She jumped up into the air and yelled, "Mermaid Kick!" before slamming one finned foot across two faces and freeing Maria and Nami in the process from their captors.

"Thanks!" Maria exclaimed.

"Don't mention it," Kokoro replied easily. "But we have to move -- now!"

"Okay." Maria turned and started running back the way she and Nami had come, the navigator and the cook following on her heels. Kokoro followed after them, Chimney under one arm and the rabbit under the other.

It was at this point that cannon fire started to hit the bridge behind them, effectively cutting the group off from the archway that had once led to their escape ship.

"Why does this always happen to us?!" Nami wailed as they went.

"You mean this is an everyday occurrence for you guys?" Maria asked, whacking a Marine that came to close with her staff. The weapon wasn't even covered in flames anymore, and Maria was wielding it like a baseball bat, but she still had enough force in her attacks to stun a Marine.

** "Herd them over to the second column," ** a Marine said over the loudspeaker. **"Fire."**

Another explosion went off behind them, taking down more of the bridge and causing Nami to wail even louder in fear while Marines caught in the blast yelled in alarm as they were thrown into the water.

Maria simply gritted her teeth. "They're taking out their own men! What are they trying to do?"

"It looks like they're trying to take us our and don't even care about them anymore," Sanji responded through gritted teeth.

Another cannon explosion erupted behind them, and Chimney and her rabbit jumped up onto Sanji's back again while Nami carried Chopper in her arms. Kokoro and Maria kept even strides with them, but the blue-eyed teen felt like her muscles were straining just to stay ahead of the cannon fire, let alone in stride with the cook and the navigator.

"RUN!!" Sanji yelled at the figures in front of them -- Maria could see Franky, Robin, and Zoro looking back to see what exactly was going on on the bridge. The cyborg looked particularly startled to see what was going on.

Then an explosion suddenly hit the bridge right on the group's heels, sending everyone flying forward. Maria let out a yell of surprise when she was sent flying, and she instinctively put her hands out in order to catch herself when she hit the stones below her.

When the amnesiac did land, she ended up skidding across the stones for a moment, and it did not feel all that pleasant -- mainly because she ended up flipping over on her back right at the end and let out a pained grunt when she came to her sudden halt.

"Damnit, they took the entire bridge out!" Sanji cursed from somewhere nearby as Maria rolled over onto her stomach. "Now we're stuck on this stupid column! These bastards have got us cornered!"

"There's nothing else we can do -- we're surrounded!" Zoro growled as Maria got put to her feet.

As a result of the blast, she had let go of her staff and sent it off in its usual shower of sparks, but the amnesiac didn't really feel like summoning it in order to get to her feet. So instead, Maria propped her hands on her knees and stood in a slightly crouching position, breathing in and out while her back ached from her collision with the ground.

Maria scowled at the stones below her feet and wondered why she couldn't have just somehow landed on her feet.

"Then this is where we'll make our stand!" Nami declared from nearby. "Let's fight!"

"Don't be stupid!" Franky retorted. "They'll just keep sending more and more of those Captains at us!"

** "All ships, prepare to open fire on the first column!" **

Maria's head shot up when she heard that, and she looked over to her right at the same building that Luffy had decimated not too long ago. "No! We've got to get Luffy out of there!"

** "All cannons, take aim. Eliminate Straw Hat Luffy." **

Maria watched with no small amount of alarm as the cannons on the battleship decks far above them shifted to aim at Luffy's location.

At the same time, the remaining Marines that had managed to escape the bridge's destruction started to fight the Straw Hats, but none of them even got close to where Maria was crouched, exhausted. Sanji made sure of that.

_ I wish I didn't have amnesia so that I knew all of my techniques and wasn't tired like this! _ Maria mentally cursed. _Then I might be able to do something about this!_ ****

"LUFFY!!!"

Maria's eyes widened when she heard Usopp's voice, and she realized that the sniper _still_ hadn't moved from his position at the end of the bridge closest to where Luffy was.

"Luffy's in trouble!" Zoro growled around his white sword's hilt. "We've gotta help him!"

"No good..." Robin murmured. Maria watched with no small amount of amazement as arms sprouted from her elbows and then from the hands at the ends of those arms. "At this distance...all I can do is grab him and throw him into the sea."

_ Is that her Devil Fruit ability? To grow arms and hands wherever she needs them? _

_ ::Bad news, guys!:: _ Maria's ears twitched when she heard Zambei's voice come over the loudspeakers. _::Straw Hat may have won the fight, but he's so weak now, he can't get up! He'll be killed!::_

This was followed by a chorus of cries of alarm, them a loud, unanimous cry:

_ ::STAND UP, STRAW HAT!!!:: _

"Come on, Straw Hat!" Kokoro called from Maria's left. "Stand up!"

"Come on, Pirate Guy!" Chimney added.

"Luffy...." Maria muttered under her breath before gritting her teeth. "There's no way that you can end it like this! Not after we managed to rescue Robin!"

"Luffy!" Nami yelled. "Hurry! Move it!"

"Damnit, you've gotta do something right now, Luffy!" Sanji barked.

"Luffy!" Nami and Maria yelled together.

"Straw Hat!" Franky called out.

_ ::COME ON!! YOU CAN DO IT, STRAW HAT!!!:: _

"Get moving! They're gonna kill you!!" Sanji yelled again.

"Please, Luffy!" Maria rose up fully to her feet and brought out her staff, catching a Marine's sword on the wood. The amnesiac nearly buckled under the force that Marine was pushing down, but she somehow managed to stand firm and twist herself around in such a way that she managed to take him out with a blow to the back of the head.

Everyone around Maria raised their voices -- including Paulie and the Franky Family -- as they tried to cheer Luffy on in order to get him to do something so that he could get out of the column that was about to get fired on.

Maria decided she wasn't about to stand there and just watch. Pushing herself, the amnesiac started to go after the Marines again, knocking them off the edge of the column and into the sea below with a few blows from her staff in the right places -- mainly the chest and legs so that the target would lose their balance and fall backwards. At least this way, none of them would have to die at the hands of their comrades -- they could swim to safety instead.

It was in this way that she ended up coming to stand behind Usopp, who, oddly enough, had his hands over his ears again. He didn't hear the Marine coming up behind him, so Maria took him out with a well-aimed blow to the ribs, knocking the wind out of the would-be attacker.

"Shouldn't you be paying attention to what's going on around you?" Maria asked loudly, hoping that her voice would get through Usopp's fingers and into his ears. "You're going to get yourself killed if you just stand there like that!"

"What's with this voice...?"

Maria blinked in confusion, frowning when she heard Usopp muttering to himself. "Voice?"

Franky came over and slammed his right fist into a Marine that nearly took Maria's head off, startling the amnesiac. "This is no time for spacing out, you two!"

"Franky, he claims that he's hearing a voice!" Maria motioned to Usopp, who still had his hands over his ears and was muttering to himself.

The cyborg frowned. "A voice? You mean my guys?"

"No, not them!" Usopp turned around and looked at Maria and Franky. "This is different; it's something I've been hearing for a while."

"Huh?" Franky frowned in confusion. "You have?"

Usopp nodded, then turned and crawled out to the edge of the remains of the bridge. He started to look around over the sea.

"What's going on?" Maria asked in confusion.

"Beats me." Franky bopped the Marine under his arm in the head, then dropped the unconscious man to the ground.

"The voice...it's coming from...over here." Usopp tilted his head downward, causing Maria to come over out of curiosity. However, the amnesiac didn't get down on her hands and knees to look down at the sea below them.

"Hello?" the sniper called out.

All around the top of the column, the other Straw Hats were reacting to something, looking around in curiosity and muttering to themselves in confusion. Maria looked at each of them, wondering what exactly it was that they were hearing.

"It says 'look below'!" Chopper's voice suddenly rang out around the area.

"What voice?" Chimney demanded. "What are you talking about?"

** "All ships, commence fire on Straw Hat Luffy in five--" **

"No, Luffy!" Nami exclaimed, turning sharply to look at the first column.

"We have to get him out of there somehow!" Maria added, tightening her grip on her staff and looking over at where Luffy was. She could just barely make out her captain lying on the stone floor....

A sniffling noise caught her attention, and Maria turned her head to her left. The amnesiac's blue eyes widened when she saw that Usopp was in tears and gritting his teeth.

The sniper raised his head sharply and yelled at the top of his lungs, "JUMP IN THE SEA!!!" ****

** "Four!" **

"THE SEA!!!"

Maria looked at the sniper in bewildered surprise as he quickly turned around to look at a certain dark-haired woman. _Jump in the sea?_

"Robin! Can you still throw Luffy into the sea?" Usopp asked.

"Leave it to me," Robin replied, glancing away from two Marines that were being bent backwards by arms that had seemingly sprouted from nowhere.

"Are you trying to kill us?!" Zoro demanded from nearby. Any other comments from the swordsman were cut off when he went back to fighting at couple nearby Marines, but he threw him off easily. "Jumping in the sea won't help a damn thing!"

Maria frowned, then looked back and forth between the other Straw Hats and Usopp.

"Does this have something to do with that voice you heard?" she asked in confusion.

** "Three!" **

Usopp hesitated for a moment, then nodded, a determined look crossing his face. "We're gonna be saved!" He scrambled to his feet, then grabbed Zoro's yellow jacket and started shaking the swordsman. "She came to rescue us!"

"She?" Maria repeated. "She who?"

"Jump!" Usopp continued, ignoring Maria's question. "It'll be okay! We've still got one more friend here!"

From where Maria was standing, she could see that Zoro's eyes were wide -- for what reason, however, the amnesiac wasn't exactly sure. ****

** "Two!" **

"Chopper!" Nami called out. "Did you see --"

"Yes!" Chopper called back, his voice clearly filled with tears.

"See what?" Maria asked in confusion.

"An old friend," Usopp replied, turning to look at Maria. His eyes were clearly full of tears, but a delighted look was also in his eyes.

"Really?" Maria blinked a couple times. "Who?"

"You'll see when we jump."

"Now, Cien Fluer," Robin declared from nearby, her arms crossed with her palm facing upward. "Delphinium!"

Maria looked at Robin in confusion. "What?"

"She's moving Luffy," Usopp explained. "Come on!" He grabbed Maria's left arm with his right hand and pulled her to the edge of the steel beam that he had been standing on a few minutes ago. "You ready?"

Maria looked at Usopp's eager expression with a surprised one, but then it morphed into a more nervous expression. The amnesiac gave a nod. "Yeah."

"All right."

** "One!" **

Usopp tightened his grip on both Maria's arm and his slingshot-staff, then pulled the amnesiac forward off the edge of the steel beam. At the same time, Maria's blue eyes caught sight of a figure falling out the open hole in the wall.

"Follow Luffy!" Usopp yelled as he let go of Maria's wrist and let her fly alone into the open air. "To the sea!"

"Go!" came the unanimous response from above from the other Straw Hats. "To the sea!"

** "Fire!" **

_ BOOM. _

The first column exploded in a flash of light, pretty much incinerating everything that was within it.

However, Maria wasn't looking _up_ at her crewmates or the explosion _._ She was looking _down._

_ A...a ship? _ Maria blinked a couple times when she saw the small boat below them, with its sail fully unfurled. _Is that a sheep's head on the front of the ship? And...a skull and crossbones with a straw hat on top.... Wait. A straw hat?_

"EVERYONE!!" Usopp yelled to Maria's left. "GET ON BOARD THE _MERRY_!!!"

_ Merry...the Going Merry...the Straw Hat pirates' ship...the one they asked to be repaired.... _

Maria felt tears coming to her eyes, but she put it off as the wind drying out her eyes and her body trying to compensate for that.

_ This was the ship that had made Usopp separate from the crew...the one that they were going to replace. Is the friend that Usopp was talking about on board? _

"MERRY!!" came Luffy's delighted shout.

And then everybody hit the water. ****


	36. Get Away With Style!

When Maria ended up colliding with the waves around the ship, it took her a moment to actually get her bearings and start swimming upwards, holding her breath as best she could while her staff disappeared. The impact this time with the sea didn't cause her to lose her breath, like it did in the tunnel, so that was a major lifesaver in the amnesiac's opinion.

Still, she did end up getting pushed pretty far down into the sea -- Maria could see the bottom of the Straw Hats' ship, and the metal platings that covered a good portion of it. As she swam up, the conversation that Luffy and Nami had had with Paulie and the other shipwrights drifted back into her mind.

Maria bit her lower lip, losing a small number of air bubbles as she got closer to the ship. A broken keel...was it going to fall apart on them here?

Maria soon reached the surface of the water, breaking through and taking in a big gulp of air before looking over at the ship and swimming towards it. _Looks like there's a rope ladder I can use in order to get up._

The amnesiac was pretty sure that others had already climbed up, because she saw one of Zoro's boots disappear over the edge of the white deck railing. Gripping the ropes herself, Maria managed to climb up the ladder and slide onto the deck out of relief.

Usopp let out a yell as he suddenly came flying over Maria and landed on the wood next to her, surprising the amnesiac enough for her to remember to actually get to her feet. Once she was up, she helped Usopp get up from the deck.

"Seriously, can't you swim on your own, brother?" Franky demanded as he climbed up and onto the deck of the _Merry_.

Maria blinked in couple times in surprise upon hearing this from the cyborg before looking at Usopp in confusion. "What kind of pirate can't swim?"

"Usually the Devil Fruit kind," Franky replied dryly as he walked over to Maria and the sniper.

"All right, you three -- up you go!" Kokoro called from below.

"Speaking of which...." Franky took a step or two away from Maria and Usopp as Luffy's momentarily unconscious form suddenly bounced onto the deck -- literally.

"Yoo-hoo! Robin! Leap into my arms my darling! Over here!" Sanji stopped talking and stared in shock as Franky caught Robin easily and put her down gently onto the deck _._

The sight of the cook stumbling into a pouting position earned a giggle of amusement from the amnesiac below.

Chopper landed on the deck as Franky put Robin down. A second later, the little reindeer broke down in tears and started flopping on deck, exclaiming, "We're on the _Merry!_ Guys, we're on the _Merry!_ I love you, _Merry_! I love you so much! Thank you!"

Usopp slipped away from Maria -- who had been giving him support to stand again -- and he stumbled over to the only mast on the little ship, which was covered in iron plating. The sniper put a hand on the metal and cried, "Merry...My sweet Merry is still alive! That being said...how did she make it here?"

"I wish...I wish I could give you a hug, Merry!" Chopper wailed.

Maria frowned in complete and utter befuddlement at their actions, and decided to ignore it in favor of looking around at the ship herself. From what she could tell...it almost looked like it was falling apart -- some of the windows on the cabin were broken, there were parts of the deck that had splinters sticking up all over the place, and then there were the obvious patches that had been made to it.

"So, this is the _Merry..._." Maria murmured quietly. She walked over to the deck railing and placed a hand down on it, looking at the wood in wonder. "Looks like it's been through a lot."

"It sure has," came Sanji's response from nearby. Maria looked up to see the cook standing on an upper deck of some kind. "This is the ship we used in order to get to the Grand Line. It's been to every single island that we've been to."

"Including the one in the sky, right?"

"Yup."

"The question is, who sailed it here?" Nami asked, causing Maria and Sanji to look over in her direction.

"Figure it out later," Zoro responded quickly. "Just get us out of here!"

"Right. Let me think...."

"Everyone ready?" Zoro barked, starting to move around the deck.

"I guess so," Maria responded, shrugging helplessly.

"Whoo, that was a close one."

The amnesiac turned her head upon hearing Luffy's voice, and she caught sight of him lying on the deck.

"I thought those battleships were going to get me for sure," the black-haired boy continued. "Robin, you saved me. Thank --"

It was at this point that an arm suddenly grew up from the deck and slapped a hand over Luffy's mouth, preventing him from saying anything further.

Maria blinked in surprise. "Where did _that_ come from?"

"Robin?" Nami asked from nearby, frowning curiously.

 _Robin?_ Maria turned her head to look over at the dark-haired, blue-eyed woman that they had just rescued. She was standing near where Luffy was lying, a soft smile playing on her face as she looked around at those standing on the deck.

"Luffy...everyone...thank you."

There was a lot of emotion in those words. The Straw Hats gave soft smiles in response -- Usopp gave a thumbs-up and said "Sure" along with his, and Luffy proclaimed, "Don't worry about it!" before letting out a "shishishishi."

Maria gave a soft smile in response to the woman's statement. "I'm glad I was able to meet you guys so that I could help."

"That's nice, but save the sappy stuff until after we get out of here, okay?" Zoro asked in an annoyed tone.

In an instant, Sanji and Chopper were attacking the swordsman, leaving Zoro kicking out one leg in order to get the reindeer to stop biting him while he fended off Sanji's feet with one of his sheathed swords.

"Take that back, you heartless bastard!" Sanji roared.

"Yeah!" Chopper agreed. "You bastard!"

"I said 'when we're out'! That doesn't mean when we're dead, stupid!" Zoro barked.

"Then maybe you should stop fighting so we _can_ get out?" Maria asked pointedly.

"Apologize to Robin!" Sanji yelled, not having heard Maria's question.

"Yeah!" Chopper agreed again.

"That's enough! Both of you, stop!" Zoro looked down at the reindeer on his leg, only for his eyes to widen a moment later. "Hey, wait...Chopper. You're moving again."

Chopper let go of Zoro's leg and looked himself over. "Now that you mention it...I guess I _am_ moving. I was afraid I'd never get better." A delighted look crossed the little reindeer's face.

A moment later, Chopper was sitting on Zoro's back in Heavy Point and pulled up on the swordsman's legs, producing a loud cracking noise that made Maria flinch back. "Now apologize to Robin!"

"Give up yet?" Sanji asked cheekily, grinning at Zoro.

"No! Never!"

Maria blinked a couple times upon seeing what was being done to Zoro. _It's almost like...they're acting as though the fights never happened. I'm pretty sure Zoro hasn't healed all of his wounds from his fight with Kaku yet._

Nearby, the amnesiac could see that Robin was smiling and chuckling to herself, making Maria wonder if these actions were considered normal in the pirate crew.

"Okay, let's go!" Nami called out. "You guys ready to move?"

"Yeah!" came the unanimous cry.

Maria watched in amazement as everyone except for Luffy, Kokoro, Franky, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit started to scramble around the deck, making sure that everything was in order. Chopper left Zoro lying on the ground, dashing up into the cabin's second floor. The swordsman got up seconds later, however, looking completely fine.

**"All ships: prepare to fire! Repeat: prepare to fire!"**

"Uh oh!" Maria's eyes widened, and she looked up as the cannons on the battleships around them started aim down at the Going Merry.

"Can't you load those cannon balls any faster?! Do you want them to get away?!"

 _That voice..._ Maria frowned, only for her eyes to narrow a moment later when she realized who it was that was yelling.

"Span-dumb!" the amnesiac identified.

"So that idiot's still alive," Franky commented, frowning up at one of the battleships. "That sucks."

"There's gonna fire!" Usopp yelped.

"Catch the wind from starboard and head east!" Nami suddenly ordered.

Maria felt the deck shift underneath her and watched as the _Merry_ started to turn and move forward. "So this is what being on a ship is like?"

"Damn, we're completely surrounded!" Zoro cursed.

"All those big, scary cannons, and they're aimed straight at us!" Usopp yelped.

Maria looked up and swallowed when she saw the battleship that was right in front of them. "Oh, no."

**"Fire!"**

Maria watched with no small amount of alarm as nine cannons on the ships above and around them fired. She tightened her grip on the white deck railing of the ship and shut her eyes tightly while Usopp screamed somewhere in the background.

_I don't want to die without getting my memories back!_

The amnesiac heard several loud splashes of water and felt herself get soaked again as water sprayed up from the side of the ship. This was followed closely by a loud explosion, but Maria wasn't sent flying.

She cracked one eye open, then the other when she realized that the ship hadn't been blown to pieces. Instead, there was smoke rising from a nearby battleship that had been hit.

"Why are they hitting each other?" Maria asked in confusion.

 **"What was that? Where the hell were you aiming?"** came a snarling voice over the loudspeaker.

Almost immediately afterward, one of the battleships near the Straw Hats started to drift a little bit. Maria's eyes widened in shock when she saw that the battleships had started _ramming into each other_ and causing explosions all over the place!

"What's going on?" Maria yelped, watching as yells of panic came up from the Marines ships

"That turned out better than I thought!" Sanji praised from where he was standing nearby, clearly sounding delighted as he watched the destruction.

"Sanji, is that what you did while you were gone?" Usopp asked, stumbling over and looking at the cook in amazement.

"What _did_ you do?" Maria spoke up, coming over across the deck. It was a bit difficult, as she wasn't used to walking on something that was rocking under her feet, but the amnesiac managed.

Sanjii turned to look back at the two of them and tapped one side of his head, grinning around a cigarette in his mouth. "I figured it would take more than just guts to get out of her alive. So I went and found the lever that worked the Gates of Justice and I shut 'em."

"Why didn't I think of that?" Usopp was clearly amazed. "You're incredible, Sanji!"

"Yeah!" Maria agreed, grinning. "You're awesome!"

"Are you a genius or what?" Luffy called out in agreement.

"It's a little early to be kissing his ass," Zoro snapped from the upper deck, causing Maria to jump. "These whirlpools are a problem for us, too!"

Maria sent a sour look up at the swordsman. "'Kissing his ass'? Really? Couldn't you have thought up something a little nicer to say?"

"Aw, great! Thanks a lot, Sanji," Usopp scowled and threw his hands in the air.

"Would you shut up?" Nami called. Maria turned her attention to the orange-haired navigator as Chopper stuck his head out the door of the cabin's second level. "It's not a problem. Just so long as we're together, there's no sea that the _Going Merry_ can't cross. Right?"

"You're so cool, Nami-swan!" Sanji cooed.

"Right!" Usopp called back. "You go for it, Navigator!"

"Let's get out of here!" Maria agreed, clenching her left fist and throwing it high.

"Just hold them off while I find a path for us!" Nami ordered.

"No problem!" came the response from Chopper, Zoro, and Sanji. The reindeer promptly retreated back into the cabin while Zoro and Sanji disappeared around the side of it, Usopp scrambling after them.

"Wait up!" Maria scrambled up the stairs after them, her staff appearing in her right hand as she went. "I may be more tired and probably weaker than all of you at this point, but that doesn't mean I can't and don't want to help!"

"The more the merrier," Usopp replied, offering Maria a smirk as she took up a position to his right.

Cannonballs landed in the water to the ship's right and left while the _Merry_ rushed forward. Maria was starting to feel like she was running on adrenaline again -- being on an actual ship and working side by side with her crewmates made her feel like she could jump onto one of the battleships and take out every single Marine that happened to be on them.

Five cannonballs were launched into the air and started coming down towards the ship; Maria wondered if they were actually going to hit or not.

Fortunately, she never got the chance to find out.

"One-Sword Style: 36 Caliber Phoenix!" Zoro threw his sword around in a quick slash sending a blast of air out at the cannonballs and causing them to explode before they could even hit their target.

"Whoa!" Maria looked at the green-haired swordsman in amazement, and he looked back at her with his usual guarded, serious expression before glaring back at the battleships to see if there were more cannonballs coming.

"Since I lost one of my swords, I can't do a full 108 Phoenix," Zoro muttered, glaring up at the smoke-filled sky.

"Why don't you go cry about it?" Sanji teased.

"I'm gonna make you cry about it!" Zoro turned his head sharply so that he could glare at the cook.

"Uh, guys?" Maria asked, not taking her eyes of the sky.

"Here they come again!" Usopp yelped.

Sure enough, five more cannonballs were coming towards them.

Sanji leapt up high into the air and swung around with one of his legs, catching a cannon ball and kicking it back. "Collier Shoot!"

Maria's eyes widened when the cannonball was sent flying back easily and slammed into one of the cannons on a nearby battleship.

"Cien Fleur: Defense!"

Maria turned around and saw what looked like a giant net of arms and hands growing up around the main mast. It caught two cannonballs and sent them rolling down to the deck.

Moments later, Franky jumped up -- seemingly from out of nowhere -- and he threw the two cannonballs, yelling, "We don't want 'em! Take 'em back!"

Two more explosions happened on two different battleships when the cannonballs hit their mark. Maria snickered at Franky's statement as she watched the fireworks.

"It's my turn! Triple Flame Star!"

Maria returned her gaze to what was going on at the back of the ship right when three cannonballs exploded.

"Nice aim," Maria commented, turning and grinning at Usopp.

The long-nosed sniper gave a grin. "Thanks! You'd better be ready -- it's your turn now."

Maria nodded in agreement, then turned to face the back of the boat while she started spinning her dragon staff. Fire coated its entire length as the amnesiac started to build up power.

When three more cannonballs started to make their way towards them, Maria moved forward and threw her staff out, yelling, "Fire Sphere Multi-Shot!"

Three glowing balls of fire zoomed towards their targets and caused them to explode in bright flashes of fire.

"Bullseye!" Maria exclaimed, grinning.

The group of four kept up this rotation easily, allowing Maria some time to charge up her fire a little before sending out as many Fire Spheres as she needed in order to take out the cannonballs that were coming towards them. Eventually, however, the four ended up separating across the back deck of the _Merry_ , calling out whenever cannonballs were coming for the others or when the needed help on their side.

"Guys, save some for me! I want to fight 'em, too!"

Maria took down two cannonballs, then turned to look back at the stairs leading from the lower deck. She blinked a couple times in surprise when she saw that Luffy had somehow managed to crawl up the stairs.

"Are you sure you'd be able to do anything?" Maria asked, frowning.

"Really? Are you gonna squirm 'em to death?" Usopp asked, glancing back at the pirate captain as he pulled back on his slingshot.

"Hate to break it to ya, Captain, but this one's our battle," Sanji called back.

"Take a nap," Zoro added before unleashing another 36 Caliber Phoenix on a group of cannonballs. The sight snapped Maria back to charging up her dragon staff so that she could unleash another Fire Sphere.

"You go take a nap!" Luffy barked back as he started dragging himself across the deck by using his head.

Maria glared up at two cannonballs coming towards them and threw her staff forward, sending up two Fire Spheres to meet them head-on.

"Damnit, Luffy! Get out of the way!"

Maria turned her head upon hearing Zoro's voice, only to see that Luffy had managed to somehow get himself under the swordsman's feet.

**"Fire!"**

Multiple cannon shots went off at once, and Maria gritted her teeth when she saw how many were coming.

"Shut up, Zoro! You can't tell me what to do!"

"Maria! Usopp! Get back!"

Maria turned her head upon hearing her name called by Zoro, and her eyes widened in surprise when she saw that the swordsman and the cook and both grabbed Luffy and had stretched him out across the back of the deck, holding him as wide as they could.

"What are you --" Maria was cut off when the cannonballs aimed at them were caught on Luffy's rubbery self.

"Ready?" Sanji asked.

"Let's go," Zoro replied.

The two then whipped Luffy forward, sending the cannonballs flying back at the battleships. The resulting explosions and screams of terror from the Marines were the only hints they got that the cannonballs had hit their marks.

"Never let us down, huh, Captain?" Zoro asked, grinning down at the now-stunned Luffy.

"Guess we needed you after all," Sanji agreed.

"You people are monsters!" Usopp yelled, glaring at the swordsman, the cook, and the captain.

"Uh-huh." The three grinned and held up the peace sign, causing Maria to burst out into loud laughter as she doubled over.

"You guys are awesome!" the amnesiac declared.

**"Who cares?! Just shoot them! How hard could it be to sink that little ship?!"**

Maria looked up at the battleships around them as the _Merry's_ deck shifted underneath her feet; the amnesiac bent her knees so that she could stay as level as possible. "Sounds like Span-dumb is having a bad day."

"All the better for us," Sanji agreed, fingering the cigarette in his mouth.

"Let's go!" Luffy yelled from the deck. "Full speed ahead!"

It was at this point that Spandam's voice started to reach Maria's ears. Cannonballs landed to Maria's left and right, sending up spouts of water as they missed the ship, but it did nothing to hide the purple-haired man's whiny, complaining voice.

"IT'S NOT FAIR!!!!" Spandam wailed.

"I wish he'd just shut up," Maria muttered, rubbing her left ear with her left hand. "That voice of his just _grates_."

A figure walked into Maria's vision, and Maria saw that Robin had come up onto the back deck with a calm, but dangerous look in her eyes. She crossed her arms in front of her, palms facing upward. At the same time, Spandam's voice was suddenly cut off.

Robin stood there for a moment, not saying anything, her eyes closed while a dark expression seemed to hang over her face. The woman opened her blue eyes, and stated grimly, "Clutch."

Maria wasn't exactly sure, but for a moment, she thought she could hear what sounded like a cracking noise from across the sea. She didn't know what "Clutch" did to a person, but she guessed that it couldn't have been pleasant.

"All right, Franky! It's time to do your thing!" Nami called out.

"Right!"

Franky suddenly jumped down in front of the group of CannonBall Destroyers, startling Maria with his sudden appearance.

"Get ready kids, cause this is gonna be wild." Franky raised his arms and aimed them straight at the battleship behind them.

" **Intercept them! Don't let them get out of the whirlpool!"**

"Just so you know, this might bang up your ship a bit," Franky warned. "Sorry about that." His arms started to inflate. "Coup de...VANT!"

The ship was suddenly blown forward when Franky released a large amount of air from his arms. Maria soon found herself sliding across the deck towards the back of the ship, and the amnesiac scrambled for the deck railing and wrapped her arms around it to prevent herself from flying off into the sea -- or even onto the deck of a nearby battleship.

"If you think the _Merry's_ an ordinary ship, then you're wrong," Usopp commented, pulling back on his slingshot as he stood in the middle of the deck. "She's flown through the air once and she can do it again, no problem. Special Attack, Super Smoke Star!"

The pellet that Usopp fired sent off a stream of smoke right before it hit against one of the ships, exploding and sending up a large amount of smoke.

The sniper was laughing as they landed back on the sea with a jolt, shaking Maria up and down with the resulting movement. She gritted her teeth as she tried to stay in place, but it really was hopeless. At least, until the boat settled onto the waves and Maria trusted herself to walk around the deck.

"Wow, what a wild ride!" Maria commented, getting away from the railing and letting her staff disappear. She looked over at Zoro. "But it's over now, right?"

The swordsman paused for a moment, glancing up from a giggling Luffy, and he gave a slight nod.

Maria let out a sigh of relief. "Good. Because I think I'm going to need a nap."

"Choose anywhere on deck!" Luffy suggested, grinning up at the amnesiac. "Zoro always does. Shishishishishiishi!"

"Yeah, and he gets underfoot," Sanji pointed out, scowling.

"Like you ever watch where you're going," Zoro shot back. "Pervert cook."

"Why you --!"

Sanji launched himself at Zoro, who easily defended himself with one of his sheathed swords. Their fight went across the back deck, both boys yelling insults at each other.

Robin, who was standing nearby, gave an amused chuckle and turned to look over at Maria. "I'm curious as to how you managed to gain that power of yours," she commented. "Do you know anything about it?"

"Not yet," Maria admitted, shrugging helplessly. "I kinda have amnesia at this point, so I don't know where my powers come from or how I can have them without having eaten a Devil Fruit -- whatever those happen to look like. My memories are coming back, though."

An interested look came into Robin's blue eyes. "Amnesia? That seems to be pretty convenient."

"I didn't ask for it. The furthest back I can really remember at this point is a storm around Water 7 a little over a week ago. Anything further back than that, and everything pretty much goes blank except for the memories that I've managed to recover so far." Maria shrugged again, then let out a yawn. "Sorry. I guess that fighting back there kinda took a lot out of me. I'm gonna go find somewhere to take a nap."

Maria turned and started around towards the front of the ship, looking around for a moment before settling down with her back against a wooden wall that separated the deck from the sea and kept people from falling off. Placing her arms behind her head, Maria let her head drop back and closed her eyes before settling into the darkness of sleep.

**Memory Break**

_"Three cheers for Maria, the Champion of the Indigo League!"_

_Glasses of milk, juice, and soda were raised high as a resounding call came from the rest of the people standing around the picnic table._

_The ten-year-old girl sitting at the seat meant for the guest of honor gained a sheepish expression and rubbed the back of her head. "Thanks, guys. You're making me feel embarrassed."_

_A man with silver hair spiking up in all directions grinned from where he stood at the head of the table. "It's the least we could do. To have a Champion from Pallet Town is one thing, but to have her be a ten-year-old? You, my dear, are a prodigy!"_

_Maria laughed. "You think so?"_

_"Quite. Your parents are quite lucky to have you for their daughter."_

_Maria gave a bright smile, then looked up at the man and woman next to her, both smiling brightly, as well. "Yeah."_

**Memory Break**

"You sure you really want to sit on top of that sheep head?" Kokoro asked.

Maria cracked open one eye upon hearing the mermaid-woman ask such a question, and she caught sight of her standing at the base of the sheep head...and Luffy attempting to crawl up the neck towards a certain spot between the curled horns.

"Course I do," Luffy stated. "That's the captain's seat." The pirate slid back down the neck and made a frustrated noise, but then Kokoro picked him up and climbed up the neck herself.

Then Maria noticed the sky. The amnesiac blinked a couple times, looking up at the bright blue and the white, fluffy clouds.

"How long have I been asleep?" she asked.

"About two hours," Robin replied from nearby. "When the smoke from the Buster Call cleared, the sky was just like this."

Maria turned her head and looked up at the upper deck at the woman. "You mean we were fighting _all night?"_

"Indeed." Robin came down onto the lower deck and motioned for Maria to get up as she walked towards where Luffy, Kokoro, and the others were. Curious, the amnesiac got up and followed after her.

"There you go," Kokoro said as she carefully placed Luffy on the sheep head. "Just be careful not to fall off."

"Thanks, Monster Granny! I owe you one!" Luffy called back as Maria and Robin reached their area of the ship. Maria was somewhat surprised to see that the other members of the crew were standing there, as well.

"And thank you, Merry," Luffy added. "We wouldn't have been able to make it out of there if it wasn't for you. I was pretty surprised when you showed up. When I think about it, you've always been there to protect us. We've always counted on you. Anyway, I'm just happy you've been part of the team, Merry. You're a good friend to have."

Maria blinked a couple times as she cocked her head to one side, feeling a little confused. Was the ship the friend that Usopp had been talking about? But how was that possible?

"I don't mean to spoil the mood," Franky spoke up from where he was sitting on a deck rail, "but damn, you guys did some crazy stuff back there. I don't think the government's gonna let you off that easy after you burned down their flag."

Luffy turned over onto his back, still managing to remain on the sheep head. "Well, whatever. It doesn't feel like a big deal to me." His voice came out in a lazy manner. "The only reason I did any of that was because they took our friend. And I wanted her back."

Maria looked over at Robin, and a slight smile played onto her face while the dark-haired woman smiled as well.

The amnesiac looked back at the Straw Hat captain, watching as he raised his head and looked at Franky. "And we couldn't have done what we did without your help, so thanks a lot."

"W-well, like you said, it really that wasn't big of a deal," Franky stated, scratching the back of his head and looking out over the sea with an embarrassed expression on his face. "I just did what I had to do."

Luffy glanced over at Maria and added with a grin, "You too. I'm glad you decided to join our crew."

Maria grinned and rubbed the back of her head. "I am too."

"Point is, we're all together, and we're going back together. And this fight was our victory!"

"YEAH!!" everyone cried out in agreement, raising their fists. Maria made it a point to raise hers as high as she could.


	37. A Ship's Sorrowful Farewell

"Hey, Usopp! Are you there?"

"Where did you run off to? Come back!"

Maria cracked an eye open and watched from her new sleeping spot -- to the right of the _Going Merry's_ figurehead -- as Luffy and Chopper went around the ship looking for the long-nosed sniper who had helped them get Robin back. The amnesiac had been _trying_ to sleep, but as soon as the crew had scattered around the deck near the figure head, Luffy had somehow gotten it into his head that he wanted to talk to Usopp.

Somehow, Usopp had managed to scramble out of everybody's sight as soon as the captain had said his thoughts out loud. And now Chopper was helping their captain search for the sniper.

Maria glanced over at the figurehead of the _Merry,_ her eyes running over the scratched white paint and the metal plating that went all the way around one portion of the neck.

"You've been through a lot, haven't you?" Maria murmured quietly, her eyes moving up to the painted eyes of the figurehead. The amnesiac had seen memories where she talked strange creatures that had Devil Fruit abilities without eating the actual fruit; she didn't see why she couldn't talk to the ship like Luffy and Usopp seemed to.

"And you've spent every single day with this crew," Maria continued. "Considering how roughed up you are, it must've been a wild ride, right?" Her face softened slightly. "I wish that you had a voice...hearing about their adventures from your perspective would be pretty interesting...."

"Seriously, I just saw him!" Luffy complained, having Chopper carry him away from the cabin door.

Since Luffy's body was still exhausted, he couldn't exactly move around on his own two feet. However, _why_ Chopper was carrying him in _Brain Point,_ Maria didn't have a clue.

"STOP PLAYING HIDE AND SEEK!!!" Luffy bellowed, thrusting his fists into the air. "GET OUT HERE OR I'LL KICK YOUR ASS!!"

"Kick your ass!" Chopper repeated.

Maria watched the two turn to look at a mass of red fabric sitting next to Sanji. As soon as Usopp had disappeared from sight, _he_ had come up from the lower level of the cabin and had sat down where Usopp had been a moment ago.

"Hey, do you know where he is, Sogeking?" Luffy asked. "You're his friend, right?"

Of course, everybody except for Luffy and Chopper knew that Usopp and Sogeking were the same person.

Sogeking fidgeted as Luffy spoke, but then he quickly jumped up and turned around, folding his bandaged arms across his chest. "No need to fear! He took a different boat and went on ahead by himself."

Luffy and Chopper gained wide eyes, and Sanji stood up without a word and clocked Sogeking in the head with a foot.

Maria found it amusing that Sanji decided to _keep_ his foot there and that Sogeking didn't fall down and instantly start to complain about the pain.

"But why?" Chopper asked.

"That doesn't make any sense!" Luffy agreed. "It's his ship, right?"

"You have got to be _kidding_ me," Zoro muttered from Maria's immediate right, where he was sitting on the deck railing. "If they don't know who he is already, then what is it going to take?"

"Maybe you should take his mask off right in front of them," Maria suggested, glancing up at the swordsman. "I think that's usually how they do it in this kind of thing."

"Nah. They'd probably think he was Usopp's twin brother or something."

"I checked everywhere," Nami suddenly reported. "Looks like we're the only ones on the ship."

"That's pretty strange," Sanji commented, looking over at the navigator. "The _Merry_ didn't sail itself here, did it?"

Maria frowned thoughtfully as an orange flash moved through the back of her mind. "It could be possible that the entire ship was possessed. There are recorded incidents of Pokemon possessing appliances. I think I made friends with one that liked to play practical jokes on people by possessing household appliances and scaring them. His favorite was to possess someone's fridge and eat everything that was in it."

Luffy and Chopper stared at Maria with wide eyes while Robin blinked a couple times, a curious expression in her eyes.

Zoro snorted. "Yeah, sure. Like that exists."

"Easy for you to say. You didn't run into the Rotom when he was on a pranking spree."

"Well, even if they _do_ exist, we should be glad that they aren't around here," Sanji commented. "We've got one bottomless pit to worry about, and he's more than enough." He jabbed a thumb in Luffy's direction.

"Besides, we can't be the only ones on this ship." The swordsman brought the conversation back around to Nami's original point. "Someone was calling us. The whole crew heard it, except for her." Zoro nudged Maria with one of his black boots, causing the amnesiac to scowl up at him.

"I have a _name_ , you know," Maria muttered.

"So you don't know who it was?" Kokoro asked, hands resting on her hips.

"No," Robin spoke up from further down from Maria's side of the figurehead. "Just a voice beckoning us to the sea."

"Come on, you guys! The answer is obvious!"

Maria turned her head and looked at Luffy curiously, as did the others.

"I'm telling you, that was Merry's voice we heard!" Luffy declared.

"What?" Chopper repeated in surprise. "You think so?"

Maria blinked a couple times out of surprise. "The ship _does_ have a voice?"

"Come on, Merry!" Luffy called, grinning and waving at the figurehead. "Say something else!"

"I think we'd know by know if the ship could talk," Zoro commented dryly.

"You know, as ridiculous as it may sound, I was thinking the same thing," Nami commented from the lower portion of the deck. "But there's no way, right? It's impossible...."

Nami trailed off, leaving everyone sitting in silence. Maria's eyes trailed back to the figurehead, and she looked at the sheep's head with a curious expression.

_ What kind of ship are you? _

"Hey, look -- there's a ship coming!"

Maria turned her head to look at Luffy, who was looking out as something that was behind the amnesiac -- or, rather, in front of the ship. She turned around, and her eyes widened when she caught sight of what was in front of them.

"It's a Galley-La Company ship," Sanji noted.

"What's it doing out here?" Maria asked, getting up to her feet and looking out at the large ship in front of them. She could hear cheers coming from the ship's deck and could see faint figures waving in their direction. "And who's on board?"

Luffy let out a laugh from behind the amnesiac. "Ahoy! What's up, Ice Pops?"

"Ice Pops?" Maria murmured. She looked up again at the ship in front of them, and her eyes widened when she caught sight of a certain blue-haired, bandaged mayor.

"Ice-for-Brains?" Franky asked from nearby. "Huh."

"Ice-for-Brains?" Maria repeated, glancing over at the cyborg. "You two know each other?"

"Oh, yeah. He and I go way back." Franky gave the teen a grin.

"Huh."

There came a creaking noise from somewhere on the ship, and suddenly the deck beneath Maria's feet lurched forward at an angle, causing the teen to yelp in surprise as she was thrust into the deck railing, but not overboard.

"What just happened?" Maria demanded in a panicked yelp, turning around to look back at the others. Her startled confusion turned into a confused frown when she saw that not all of the ship had been lurched into the odd angle the front deck was at.

"Merry!" Sogeking murmured, pain in his voice as he got to his feet from where he had fallen.

"Hey! Their ship's breaking apart!" someone on the Galley-La ship called. "Why's it breaking apart all of a sudden?"

"There's nothing sudden about it," Sanji muttered from where he was sitting on the deck. "We all knew this was going to happen."

Maria blinked a couple times before she remembered what exactly it was that the shipwrights had said was wrong with the ship. _The keel...._

Luffy half sat up from here he was lying and looked at Sanji in confusion.

"Before we left, they told us that the _Merry_ was unfit to sail," Sanji remained the captain.

"Well, yeah, but...."

"What happened to you, Merry?" came Nami's concerned voice from the lower deck.

Curious, Maria moved around the deck using the railing to keep herself from sliding back. Once she managed to reach the end that led down the stairs, however, the amnesiac stopped short in shock.

It looked like something had ripped through the ship, leaving a jagged rip that not only went through the deck, but most of the inside of the ship as well. It was a miracle that the _Merry_ hadn't started sinking yet!

Maria let out a hiss of sympathetic pain. "Ouch."

"Ice Pops, help! Merry's in trouble!"

Maria turned her head and caught sight of Luffy now kneeling on the figurehead, looking up at the Galley-La ship. She let go of the railing and let herself slide back down to where she had been standing when the break had occurred.

"Can't you do something?" Luffy continued. "You got here just in time -- you're all shipwrights, aren't you? I'm begging you, don't let her die now! Merry's more than just a ship -- she's a member of our crew! If it wasn't for her, we all would have died back there! So come on! Do something!"

Maria tightened her grip on the deck railing, looking up at the mayor of Water 7 with expectant concern. She had been there for the final verdict from the shipwrights, but she didn't want to believe that they could just give up on the ship so easily.

The amnesiac bit her lower lip as she watched Iceberg bow his head.

"She's fought hard for you..." Iceberg murmured, his voice cutting through the air, "but it's time to let her rest."

Maria looked over at Luffy, and noticed that his fight-ready expression had changed to one of slight shock.

"Besides, I've already done everything that I can."

Maria turned her head to look back at Iceberg with an expression of confusion. "What?"

"Last night, during Aqua Laguna, after I had finished the repairs to the Rocket Man and seen you off, I was walking to the shelters when I heard what sounded like a wooden mallet hitting against something on Scrap Island. I went down in order to check it out, and I found your ship beached there and turned on its side. I thought the damage that had been done to it was from Aqua Laguna, but the damage to the keel had been from much further back. I was investigating the keel when I heard the voice."

Sogeking made a noise, and Maria glanced back to look at him. He was gripping the deck railing behind him so tightly, the amnesiac wondered if it was going to break.

" 'I want to sail' is what it said," Iceberg continued. "I don't know what came over me, but I did what I could to repair the ship and make her decent. When I had managed to upright it and I came back to myself, I was about to leave when I heard the voice speak again. It said 'thank you'. Then the ship turned and she was washed out to sea."

Maria put her hand over her mouth in shock, and she looked over at the figurehead again.

"This is a miracle," Iceberg concluded. "There's no other word for it. The miracle of a ship that's gone beyond its limits, to see you one last time."

_ Wow.... _

"As you know, I've been a shipwright for many years. But I've never seen a ship as incredible as this one. It's lived a wonderful life."

Considering how little Maria knew about the ship, the amnesiac found herself surprised when tears started to build up in her eyes. Wiped the tears off her face and looked at her wet fingers in complete confusion.

_ What is this? Why am I crying? _

On the figurehead, Luffy shifted. Maria turned her head to look up at her captain when he bowed his head and closed his eyes, his face shadowed by his hat.

"I understand," Luffy stated quietly.

Maria stiffened a little bit when she heard Luffy say that.

** Time Break **

Maria stood in the long boat with the other Straw Hats, watching Luffy standing on his own directly in front of the broken ship that had carried the crew so far. The amnesiac rubbed along the wood of her phoenix staff with the thumb of her right hand as she stood next to Sogeking, who had his arms folded across his chest.

"Well, guys," Luffy stated without turning around. "You ready?"

"Yeah," Zoro replied from where he stood on Sogeking's other side.

Luffy lifted a stake of wood up from a small pile of burning coals. Maria had set fire to them when the shipwrights had brought out everything the Straw Hat had asked for. The captain had said he wanted to do this properly, and Iceberg had agreed that this way would be for the best.

Although, it didn't exactly help that the shipwrights had all gawked at Maria when she had pulled her staff out of nowhere before placing her left hand on the coals in order to set them ablaze.

"Merry, I know the bottom of the sea is a dark and lonely place," Luffy stated, holding the torch out over the edge of the boat. "But don't worry -- we're here to see you off."

Maria could barely see Luffy moving the torch from where she was standing, but she sensed more than saw the flames start to burn at the wood. Maybe it was an after-effect of her abilities?

"I'm sure you wish that he's here, but it's probably best that Usopp isn't around," Luffy added. "I don't know if he could take this."

"Well?" Zoro asked, not taking his gaze off the ship. "Is that true?"

Maria glanced over at Sogeking curiously, wondering what his answer would be.

"Of course it isn't," Sogeking murmured quietly. "We must all say our farewells someday. Every man knows that. We must all hold back our tears."

Maria gave the sniper a sad look, then looked back at the ship. The fire suddenly branched out over the outside of the ship, causing the amnesiac to swallow as Luffy tossed the torch he had been holding into the water. Then he pushed against the wood that hadn't been touched yet, allowing for the captain to start to float back towards the others.

"Luffy knows that," Sogeking added. "He knows what has to be done."

Maria watched as the fire started to spread from the rip in the wood over the other parts of the ship, climbing up the rigging and covering the crow's nest before going after the front half of the ship.

She knew that, if Luffy wanted to, he could say the word and the amnesiac could use Flash Fire to stop the burning instantly...but that wasn't going to happen.

"Thank you for carrying us for so long and so far, Merry," Luffy murmured.

Maria watched Luffy's boat drifting back quietly, but then she felt something small and cold land on her head right before a small, white something drifted into view.

"Huh?" Maria crossed her eyes as the white, fuzzy thing landed on her nose. It looked like snow, but...it felt _warm._ Strangely warm.

The warm snowflake on Maria's nose change from a friendly white to a bright, glowing yellow, and Maria's vision shifted.

The amnesiac found herself not standing on the long boat with the others, but in a cloud of visions that came and went.

_ Luffy, Zoro, Nami, and Usopp were standing on deck, looking over a black piece of cloth -- Usopp being the only one with white, red, and yellow paint on his arms. _

_ "Paint one on the sail too, Usopp!" Luffy ordered, grinning at the skull-and-crossbones with his straw hat on them. _

_ "Sure thing!" came the reply from the long nose. _

The scene changed, showing Nami lecturing the three boys on the damage that had been done and that they had to take care of the ship as its crew. All three of them were rubbing giant sore spots on their heads.

Then...

_ "Hey, Luffy, what's so loud down there?" Zoro demanded, looking down from where he had been napping on top of the cabin. _

_ "Cannon firing practice," Luffy replied, looking up from the cannon he was sitting in front of. He looked over at a tower of rock with a sour expression. "But it's not going very well." _

_ "Let the expert aim the thing!" Usopp came over and aimed the cannon, managing to fire at the rock tower and take it down completely. _

The scene changed again, and Maria found herself standing on deck in the middle of a storm.

_ "I'm going to the Grand Line to find the All Blue," Sanji declared, planting his foot on a barrel. _

_ "I'm gonna be King of the Pirates!" Luffy yelled. _

_ "To become the greatest swordsman!" _

_ "I'm going so I can draw a map of the world!" _

_ "I'm going...to become a brave warrior of the sea!" _

_ Five feet broke the barrel in honor of their going to the Grand Line. _

All these and more flashed through Maria's mind, and the amnesiac found herself crying as she was brought back to the present, the glowing orb now gone from her nose and the Straw Hats' ship was going up in flames.

_ Merry...all of your adventures.... _ Maria held in the urge to let out a loud sniffle and start wailing. Instead, her tears started to come out even faster. Out of the corner of her eye, she could see that Sogeking's shoulders were shaking, and tears were starting to run down his cloak like rivers.

_ "I'm sorry." _

Maria looked up upon hearing the unfamiliar voice echo through her mind. _W-who--_

_ "I wanted to carry everyone just a little bit further." _

Maria sucked in a breath when she realized who was speaking. _Merry!_

_ "I had so much fun...I wish our adventures would never end...." _

"Merry!" Chopper wailed.

Maria felt her throat constrict as she heard the pain in the reindeer's voice. After seeing everything...she knew how much the ship meant to the Straw Hats...and how much they meant to her.

_ "But I'm sorry I can't --" _

"No, Merry!" Luffy's cry stopped the ship short.

Maria looked over at her captain, her tears continuing to flow freely, but decreasing in number.

"If anyone should be apologizing, it should be us, not you! I'm really bad at steering...I rammed you into icebergs and all kinds of stuff! I took bad care of you and ripped your sails!"

Maria closed her eyes and caught sight of Luffy sitting on top of Merry's figure head and grinning like an idiot.

"Zoro and Sanji are idiots, too -- they were breaking your stuff all the time!"

_ The two of them were grinning like the idiots they were and enjoying themselves, drinking and poking fun at each other. The entire deck looked like a festive party. _

"Usopp tried to fix you, but he wasn't very good at it! We all know that!"

_ Maria could hear Sogeking sniffling, but instead she saw Usopp with a hammer and nails, trying to repair the deck railing, then laughing his head off with Chopper when Luffy stuck a pair of chopsticks up his nose and started dancing around, laughing at himself. _

"If anyone's sorry it's...it's us!"

Luffy's loud wails caused Maria to open her eyes again, and she saw her captain kneeling in his small boat, weeping.

The amnesiac's face shifted, and gained an expression of pain. _Luffy...._

_ "I don't mind. I was happy." _

Maria looked back at the burning ship.

_ "I know you always treated me with love. Thank you." _

The flames were starting to get stronger. Maria could barely see the burning figurehead for the fire...and her eyes were blurry with the final few tears that she had left to give.

_ Even if the time we spent together was short...I'm glad...that I could spend it with you." _

The fire's strength increased, and the ship disappeared from Maria's sight. Her breath caught in her throat as her heart jumped, and the teen realized what it was that had just happened.

Luffy seemed to realize the same thing, because he threw back his head and howled the ship's name.

"MERRY!!"


	38. Back in Water-7

Maria wandered up and down the bookshelves of the small bookstore that Robin and Chopper had pulled her into, wonder clear on the amnesiac's face as she occasionally reached up to finger the binding on a volume. Already, she had a thick book under one arm that had caught her attention not too long after she had entered the store, and the brown-haired teen was looking for something else on a whim.

"Hey, Maria!"

The blue-eyed girl paused and looked down to her right. "Yeah, Chopper?"

"I think you should get this." The reindeer held up something to Maria with both hands.

The amnesiac took the object and looked it over, frowning at the spirals of metal keeping the pages and cover together. "What is it?"

"It's supposed to be a notebook, but I think you should use it as a memory journal instead. That way we can keep track of what you remember and when. I want to use the data later to study how well memories can come back to someone."

Maria frowned, then looked over at the notebook thoughtfully, sliding her fingers over the simple brown cover. "Well, I can give it a try, I guess."

"Thanks!" Chopper noticed the book that Maria had tucked under her left arm. "Hey, what's that?"

"Hmmm?" Maria glanced down at the book she already had, then back at the reindeer. "I found it in a pile of fiction books near the entrance. They're half-price, and since this one is so thick, I figured I might be able to read it in my free time later."

"Really? What's it called?"

" _The Lord of the Rings_." Maria grinned. "Pretty cool title, right? It looks like it came out pretty recently, too, but I guess people haven't really been interested in magic and quests and stuff."

"Magic and quests?" Chopper's eyes widened in awe. "That sounds cool! You mind if I read it sometime?"

"No problem! Just let me read through it first, kay?"

"Fire-san, what about this book?" came Robin's voice. A row of hands sprouted out from a nearby bookshelf and started handing a book off between each other until it reached Maria.

"What is it?" Maria stuffed the journal under her arm with _The Lord of the Rings_ , then took the book out of the hand closest to her. The entire row of hands quickly dissipated in a flash of petals.

"I found it among some history books." The archeologist walked around a bookshelf and stood to Maria's left, her own arms filled with books. "I thought that it was strange that such a book would be there and wondered what you thought of it."

Maria blinked a couple times before looking down at the book that Robin had handed her via her Devil Fruit ability. The book wasn't quite as thick as the one under Maria's arm, but it was thick enough that the teen probably should have used both hands. On the cover was a simple design, including what looked like some kind of large tree with different-colored orbs in its branches. However, the amnesiac didn't see a title.

"I don't see a title...." Maria muttered, frowning as she looked at the front cover, then scanned the binding. "It looks interesting, though."

"It appears to be a book on stargazing," Robin replied. A slight frown came over her face. "However, I don't think it was just meant for that."

"Stargazing? Well, I do like looking up at the night sky more than having a roof over my head sometimes. This could tell me what it is that I'm looking at." Maria looked back and forth between Robin and Chopper. "Is it okay with you guys if I get two books instead of just one?"

"It's no problem for me!" Chopper declared.

"Or me," Robin agreed. "Let's pay for these and get the medical supplies you need, Doctor-san."

"Yeah. I'm going to need more supplies so that I can make sure everyone's healing okay." Chopper glanced over at Maria. "Considering that not everyone can heal and get their energy back so quickly."

Maria shrugged, a helpless expression on her face. "I guess sleeping for a full day was what did it."

It had been two days since the Battle at Enies Lobby (as Maria had labeled it in her mind), and Maria had missed one of those days because she had conked out for a whole day plus the following night. Zoro had stated idly that she had snored up a storm; Sanji had vehemently denied it and instead claimed that she had the face of an angel and slept just as peacefully.

Maria didn't know who which one had been speaking the truth, so she had asked Nami about it. The navigator, sulking about not having a ship and losing their money and belongings, stated that Maria hadn't made any noises whatsoever and that the amnesiac had looked like she was as stiff as a board.

Maria had taken that to mean that she had been _really_ tired, because she was really hungry afterwards and managed to eat about twice as much as Nami and Robin did for breakfast.

Zoro had joked with a sly grin in Sanji's direction that Maria was a female version of Luffy, and _that_ would have gotten him a kick to the head were it not for the swordsman's reflexes.

"You should save your money for the medical supplies, Doctor-san," Robin commented, bringing Maria out of her thoughts. "I'll pay for the books."

"Really? Thanks, Robin!" Chopper smiled up at the archeologist. "Come on! They're probably waiting for us back at Dock 1 for us to get back with the medicines I need."

"Of course."

Robin led the reindeer and the amnesiac to the front of the store, where the owner waited behind the counter for her customers to come up and buy something from her.

Maria dropped the journal and her two books on the counter while Robin put down three of her own, then helped Chopper put his two medical books on the counter.

The woman behind the counter looked at the three in surprise. "You're buying all of this?"

"Yes. How much?"

The woman stuttered for a moment, then said an amount, which Robin paid readily. The owner then pulled out some plastic bags and placed the books inside them before handing them over to the trio.

"Thank you," Maria stated cheerily, taking the bag with her books in it. The three then stepped out of the bookstore and out into the sunlight.

Unlike a few days ago, when the Straw Hats had been in a mess with the citizens, the people were much more friendly to the pirates now that they knew what had occurred. They called out cheerful greetings and asked how their captain was doing (they said they were fine and the captain was the same). Some even offered if they could help with what it was that they were doing, but Robin politely turned them down, saying that this was something that they could do on their own.

Maria had to wonder who was responsible for telling them that the Straw Hats weren't the ones responsible for the attack on Iceberg. She figured that it was probably Paulie and the shipwrights.

With Chopper's nose, the trio soon managed to find the place he was looking for and get the medical supplies that he needed -- which meant more bags, but Maria didn't really mind all that much. Besides, walking around and carrying bags wasn't as laborious as fighting off Marines was -- especially when there was the promise of a good lunch at the end of the trek.

And, to be honest, Maria was looking forward to eating more of Sanji's delicious food.

**Time Break**

The entrance to Dock 1 was crowded with reporters and people looking for the Straw Hats, so the shipwrights had showed Maria and the others a secret way back into Dock 1 that didn't mean running into every single person who wanted to thank them for taking care of Enies Lobby. It was in this way that Maria, Robin, and Chopper managed to get back into the temporary headquarters of Galley-La, where the Straw Hats were hiding out from the general populace with the shipwrights acting as bodyguards.

"Hi! Doctor Chopper reporting in!" Chopper trotted into the half of the building that had been given to the Straw Hats as living quarters.

"How are you all doing here?" Robin asked as Maria stepped in after her and Chopper.

The amnesiac took a quick mental head count as she looked around the room: Zoro was gone for one reason or another, Luffy was still asleep, and it looked like Kokoro, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit had come by for a visit.

"I'm great now that you two are here!" Sanji dashed over to Robin and Maria, his two feet swirling together into something that looked a _lot_ like a mini tornado. "Such heavy bags. Please, allow me."

A moment later, Maria felt the weight that was in her hands get lifted, and she saw that Sanji was holding both hers and Robin's bags.

Robin chuckled, somehow amused by Sanji's actions. "If you must."

"I treated the Franky Family's wounds, but I didn't let Robin out of my sight for a single second!" Chopper exclaimed, saluting Sanji while he placed Maria's and Robin's bags over by the bunk beds that went alongside one wall.

"Mission complete," Sanji responded, saluting the reindeer.

Maria let out a laugh at the two of them then, seeing Sanji act like he was younger than he was.

Robin laughed as well, then looked down at the reindeer while Maria went over to the bags and started to rummage through them for her purchases. "I already told you, I'm not going anywhere."

"Promise?"

"You have my word, soldier."

Maria was pulling _The Lord of the Rings_ out with the intent of starting to read into it, but then Nami's yell made her nearly drop the leather-bound volume onto the floor.

"Guys, look! Can you believe it?!"

Maria looked over at the navigator, who was standing in the middle of large bags of stuff that hadn't been in the room when the amnesiac had left that morning. Plus, Nami happened to be standing delightedly next to what looked like...

"My tangerine trees are okay!" Nami declared. "We got our money back and our stuff, too!"

"Really?" Chopper gained a delighted expression while a look of surprise crossed Maria's.

_Those trees were Nami's? Huh, I didn't take her to be into taking care of fruit trees...._

"Once we buy a ship, we'll be good to go!" Nami added, smiling.

Chopper started dancing around. "All right! That's great!"

"It is," Maria agreed, nodding. She placed _The Lord of the Rings_ on the bunk she had claimed as hers -- the upper bunk of one of the sets by a window -- before going digging through her bags for the stargazing book that Robin had recommended the amnesiac take a look at. That, and the journal that Chopper had suggested that she use.

Both items were found and placed on the bunk mere moments before the group was barged in on.

"Wow, baby! You guys feelin' super or what?!"

Maria blinked in surprise upon seeing Franky, Kiwi, and Mozu barge through the door and take a ridiculous-looking pose that made the amnesiac raise an eyebrow.

"Oh, some folks aren't here," Franky noted, getting out of his pose. "Whatever."

"What's with the big entrance?" Sanji asked while Maria moved away from the bunk beds. "Something going on?"

"You bet!" Franky pushed his sunglasses up to his forehead. "Now, you'd better listen close, brother."

The cyborg sat down on the floor, crossing his legs Indian-style while Kiwi and Mozu pulled their knees up to their chests and pulled their arms around them.

"So, there's this island that's always at war," Franky stated.

"Wait, stop, I don't care," Sanji interrupted. "If you're here to tell bedtime stories, go bother someone else."

Maria blinked a couple times, frowning. _What_ is _Franky here to do?_

"Shut up. This is important! Listen!" Franky paused for a moment, then continued talking. "For years, fire rained on that island. Death and destruction are the only things that its people know. Houses burned down, cities were destroyed, and there was no place left for people to run to!"

"Doesn't sound like a very nice place to live," Maria commented.

Franky shook his head. "No, it doesn't. But in the midst of all this chaos and madness, there's a single tree. No matter what happens, it never falls, and no matter how many times the island is destroyed, its people gather around it and build it up again. It's the strongest tree in the world, and far as anyone knows, only a few of its kind exist. It's known as the Jewel Tree, Adam."

"Jewel Tree?" Maria blinked a couple times.

"Okay," Chopper commented, cocking his head and frowning. "So, what?"

"Every so often, a piece of wood from that tree shows up on the black market," Franky explained. "I've wanted one for a while now, but the going price is two hundred million beris. Too expensive for me. That is, until a bunch of pirates showed up flailing their money around and begging for me to take it."

"Bastard!" Sanji roared, causing Maria to jump in surprise. "You use our money to buy some stupid log and then brag about it?!"

"I told you, shut up!" Franky slammed his fists into the rug covering the wooden floor.

Maria could feel the vibrations from the impact travel through the wood and go up her legs, making the amnesiac nervous. Were they going to end up making an enemy out of a friend? After seeing how Franky fought, she sure hoped not.

"A long time ago, I decided that I was done building ships for the rest of my life," Franky muttered, glaring at the floor. "And yet, I couldn't help but follow in the footsteps of my old master, Tom. And soon enough, I found myself designing a ship."

Maria blinked a couple times. Where was Franky going with this?

"Now, my hope is to use that special wood to build it. To put all my heart into one last ship. A ship of dreams that can sail across any sea!"

"A ship of dreams?" Maria repeated in a quiet murmur. _Why is he telling us this?_

"I've had the blueprints for ages. Now I finally have the wood. All that's left is to make it. So, what I'm saying here...is that it would be an honor if you would take my ship and sail the world!"

There was a moment of silence as Franky's statement sank in. After that moment, Maria's eyes widened.

"Wait..." The amnesiac looked at Franky in surprise. "Does that mean--"

"Y-you're gonna give us the ship free of charge?" Sanji finished, shocked.

Franky gave the group a large grin. "Uh-huh. Cause that way I'd know my masterpiece was in good hands. Trust me, that's all I could ask for. Well, that, and you kinda paid for it already. Besides, Gold Roger's the only man in history who has ever sailed across the whole world. And his ship, the _Oro Jackson,_ was made from a Jewel Tree as well."

Maria jolted a bit when she heard that. _Gold Roger? He sailed across the whole world in a ship made from a Jewel Tree? Who was he?_

"Mark my words," Franky continued, "I'll make you the best damn ship you've ever seen!"

Kokoro let out a short laugh. "You're a shipwright after all. You can pretend all you like, but in the end, you're just like ol' Tom, ain't ya?" The old mermaid let out an even longer, louder laugh.

"Guess you're right." Franky got to his feet, Kiwi and Mozu following suit. "I get it now. It took a while, but I finally understand the pride he felt when he died."

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that, frowning in confusion and cocking her head to one side. At the same time, the cries of delight from her fellow crewmates made it hard for her to remind herself to ask later about who Gold Roger was.

"Thank you, Franky!" Chopper squealed. "We'd be glad to take your ship!"

"Right!" Sanji agreed, grinning. "Now onto the next island!"

"Luffy!" Nami ran over to the still-sleeping captain sitting at the table and started to shake him. "Did you hear that? We have a new ship!"

The only response the navigator got was a loud snore, which caused Maria to burst out laughing.

Any laughing and cheering they were doing stopped pretty quickly after that, however, because _something_ put a hole in a wall, sending out a shockwave of air and dust that caused Maria to move an arm up to her face in order to protect her eyes.

"What the hell?" Franky growled.

"What _was_ that _?"_ the amnesiac asked, lowering her arm in order to see what was in front of them. However, all she saw was dust still kicked up from the attack.

"What's going on?" Chopper asked.

A figure started to materialize in the dust cloud. "Pardon me, are you guys the Straw Hat pirates? You see, I have some friends here who would like to share a word with Monkey D. Luffy."

Sanji, Franky, and Chopper in his Walk Point quickly moved in front of the figure who had appeared while Maria summoned her phoenix staff from thin air and looked the man over: a strange dog mask of some kind, completely hiding the man's face, but everything else about his outfit clearly screamed Marine.

"The Navy!" the three boys identified, glaring at the man with the dog mask.

The man let out a short laugh. "Dumb kid. Never learns. Just as careless as ever."

And then there was a sudden blast of wind as a white blur moved past everyone. Maria was only just barely able to follow his movements, and she turned quickly to face where the man had gone as a blast of wind hit her in the face. The sight she saw made the amnesiac start to panic a little.

"What?" Franky asked as he turned.

"Damn, he's fast," Sanji commented as he moved.

Maria swallowed as the man flew through the air towards the still-sleeping Luffy.

"Rise and shine!"

_BAM!_

One fist connected with Luffy's head, sending the pirate captain out of his chair and into the floor.

"No!" Maria and Chopper, who was back in Brain Point, yelped together.

"OW!!" Luffy yelled, holding both hands to his head and writhing on the floor. "THAT HURT!!"

"How could one little punch hurt you so much?" Sanji demanded from where he stood near Maria. "You're made of rubber!"

"It's because there's no defense against the Fist of Love." The Marine reached up and removed the dog mask, revealing a head full of gray hair -- that's all Maria could see from where she was standing, at least.

"Fist of Love?" Maria repeated somewhat nervously. If Luffy couldn't handle it, _she_ didn't want to be on the receiving end of it.

"You've been getting in a lot of trouble lately, haven't you, Luffy?"

Maria couldn't see her captain too well from where she was standing, but she could see his body stiffen up.

"G-g-g-g-grandpa?!"

When Luffy said _that,_ it was Maria and the others who stiffened up.

"WHAT?!" everyone exclaimed unanimously.

"A Marine Vice-Admiral," Chopper continued, "is your --"

"--GRANDPA?!" everyone finished at once.

The man threw back his head and laughed loudly, then suddenly shifted away from standing in front of Luffy. Maria turned when the blast of wind hit her in the face, and she jumped back in surprise when she saw that the Marine had moved back to the hole in the wall that he had made when he came in.

The amnesiac and the others quickly retreated back to where Luffy was sitting on the floor, Maria with an especially nervous and defensive look on her face as she looked up at the Marine who had barged in on them.

There was a sharp look in his now-visible eyes that Maria wasn't exactly fond of, and while the grin the Marine had _was_ reminiscent of Luffy's, she didn't want to believe that the two of them were related. However, her captain's exclamation forced Maria to realize otherwise....

"It's been a while," the Vice-Admiral commented, grinning down at Luffy, who had a _steaming_ bump on his head as a result of the Marine's fist. "I think you owe me an apology, boy. You've been up to no good."

"Garp never told us he had a grandson," came someone's voice from behind the gray-haired man.

"I haven't heard anything about his family at all," another added.

 _Garp?_ Maria frowned. _What kind of a name is that?_

"Garp?!" Nami repeated in shock. "But isn't that the Navy hero who fought against Gold Roger?"

 _There's that weird name again...._ Maria's frown deepened. _And I'm not getting any memory flashes from hearing either of them, even though they sound like they're pretty famous people._

"Luffy, is this Navy guy really your grandpa?" Sanji asked, turning to glance over at Luffy.

"S-sure is."

 _He doesn't sound too happy to see him,_ Maria noted, sending a nervous glance back and forth between the man and her captain. _What is it with these two?_

"No matter what happens, don't try to fight him!"

"Is it because he's your grandpa?" Maria asked, still nervous.

Luffy shook his head, holding a hand to the bump on his head. "He'll kill you, just like he almost killed me over and over when I was little."

The amnesiac stiffened when she heard that, and she tightened her grip on her staff and swallowed loudly.

"Now, now. Don't give them the wrong idea." Garp's grin shifted a little. "Although, I do admit I threw you into that ravine one time. And I left you in the jungle a few times, too. And sure, there were those times that I sent you sailing on those balloons, too."

With each statement, Maria noticed that Garp's grin got a little smaller, and she kept getting even more terrified. _Why would a_ Marine _do that to his own grandson?! You'd think that he would have taken better care of him!_

"But I didn't do it to kill you, I did it to make you a man," Garp added.

_You could have gone a little bit easier on him before doing all those things!_

"...I see. So this is where all of Luffy's endurance comes from," Sanji finally said. "This is why everything rolls off him."

"When I left you and Ace with my friend for training, I thought that it would work out fine," Garp continued, looking directly at the Straw Hat captain sitting on the floor. The Vice-Admiral let out a sigh. "But I turn my back, and you end up like this." An angry look came over his face. "I wanted to make you into a Navy man, you stinkin' ingrate! How the heck did you become a criminal?!"

Luffy leapt to his feet, an angry look on his face. "I told you a million times I wanted to be a pirate! It's not my fault you wouldn't listen!"

Maria tightened her grip on her staff, her knuckles turning white as she looked at Luffy. Was he going to end up fighting his grandpa, after telling them they couldn't fight him?

"This is all that damn redhead's fault," Garp cursed. "The fool."

Luffy gained an even madder expression. "I...I wouldn't even be alive if it wasn't for Shanks! Shut up!"

_Shanks?_

Maria let out a squeak of surprise when Garp suddenly reached out and grabbed Luffy by the front of his Galley-La shirt and pulled the pirate captain towards the Vice Admiral.

"Shut up, huh?" Garp held Luffy up in the air while pulling back his other fist. "Is that any way to speak to your grandpa?!"

"All right! I'm sorry!"

Now Maria was _really_ scared for her captain. Fire spurted up from the staff at random intervals as she looked at Luffy, who had screwed his eyes shut and had looked away from Garp.

"We're all done for!" Chopper yelped from nearby. "Our captain's been caught by the Marines!"

"Luffy!" Nami yelled.

Maria felt like she was being torn in two. Half of her was too terrified of the Vice Admiral to move, while the other half wanted to go and try to fight the old man in order to get him to let go of the struggling Luffy.

"This is bad," Sanji commented, causing Maria to glance over at him. "If we try to rush in and help Luffy, all the Marines that are outside are going to attack us!"

"But we've gotta do some--" Maria turned her head to look back at Luffy and Garp, only for her to stop short as her eyes widened in surprise.

_The two of them fell asleep?! And Garp's still standing up? How?_

"THEY FELL ASLEEP?!!" Sanji, Chopper, and Franky exclaimed together. Even with the three yelling, neither Garp nor his grandson woke up.

Maria didn't exactly know what to think of the situation.

"Wait. So, uh..." Franky frowned. "What are we supposed to do here? I've never been in a situation like _this_ before."

"Maybe we could try to get Luffy out of his grip?" Maria suggested, looking to her right at the cyborg.

Before anyone could move or say anything more, there was a hitch in Garp's snoring, and the old man opened his eyes.

"Huh? Did I fall asleep again?" Garp blinked a couple times before turning his eyes to the sleeping Luffy in his hand.

_Uh-oh...._

"Wake up and take your lecture like a man! Don't you dare doze off on my when I'm yelling at you!"

_BAM!_

"OW!!!"

"If you don't show your grandpa some respect, I'll have to beat it out of you!"

Maria screwed her eyes shut and covered her ears in order to block out Garp's yelling and Luffy's screaming in pain. If Luffy -- who was made of rubber -- couldn't take hits like that, she didn't want to get between the two of them in order to save her captain.

_Sorry, Luffy. But if you've survived this guy before, you can probably survive him now, right?_

The beating and yelling were over in a few minutes, leaving Maria cautiously removing her hands from her ears and opening one eye in order to look at Luffy -- who now had _multiple_ bumps on his head _stacked on top of each other_ \-- and Garp.

"Speaking of that red-headed pirate friend of yours," Garp commented, "do you have any idea what kind of dangerous business he's involved in?"

" ...No. I haven't heard anything about Shanks in a long time." Luffy looked up at his grandpa with a somewhat nervous expression -- a nervousness that Maria would have doubled were it not for the curiosity that Maria had for this Shanks-pirate. "I-Is he okay? What's he up to?"

"Is he okay? Of course! There are as many pirates out there as there are stars in the sky. But that man's one of the brightest -- he's in the same class as Whitebeard, even. There are only four pirates as powerful as that, and they rule over the second half of the Grand Line like kings! They're the Four Emperors. The Seven Warlords and us folks in the Navy have allied against them. The idea is to create a balance of power. If any one of these three forces grew stronger than the others, then the peace we work so hard to protect would come crumbling down."

Maria blinked a couple times as she listened to Garp's speech. Whitebeard? Seven Warlords? The amnesiac had only a vague what exactly the Warlord bit meant, and the fact alone that someone Luffy knew was considered to be pretty powerful made her wonder at how much of the world she actually didn't know about.

"I don't really get it, but I'm glad he's okay." Luffy reached around and grabbed his straw hat, pulling it off his neck and looking at it with an almost fond expression on his face. "Man...brings back memories, huh?"

Maria heard footsteps, and she turned her head when she saw Robin move over to stand next to Nami.

"Luffy has connections to Red-Haired Shanks?" the archeologist asked the navigator.

"That's where he got his straw hat from," Nami explained.

"Really?" Maria looked between Luffy and Nami in surprise. "When did that happen?"

"When he was little, probably. Shanks asked him to take care of it. I had no idea that he was such an important guy, though...."

Maria looked back at Luffy with an expression of wonder, watching as he let the hat drop to his back again before getting to his feet, the bumps deflating and disappearing from sight.

Moments later, there came the sound of clashing metal and yells from outside.

"Hmmm?" Garp turned and glanced at the hole in the wall. "What's going on out there?"

"It's the pirate hunter," came the reply. "He seems to be going on some sort of rampage."

"Ah. He's from Luffy's crew, right? He looks pretty tough. Go ahead, you two. Give 'em hell."

"Sir!" two voices responded at once.

Maria caught sight of two figured turning and running away from the hole in the wall, blinking in confusion before her expression turned to worry.

The amnesiac's worry increased when Luffy dashed out of the building. And then when Garp turned around and started after him.

"What's going on?" Maria gulped, confused and concerned for her captain and Zoro. _Why did he have to pick now of all times to come back?_

"I don't know, but I definitely don't want to get in the way," Nami commented, also sounding worried. "Not when Luffy has a grandfather like _that._ I didn't think that an old man could be so cruel!"

"Well, Garp seemed to have once had the intention of turning Luffy into a Marine," Robin commented, folding her arms across her chest. "And he was known for his ruthlessness in chasing Gold Roger. When the Marines executed the Pirate King, he must have needed a place to transfer that ruthlessness."

"Wait a sec," Maria spoke up quickly. "There was a Pirate King before?"

"Well, yeah," Nami replied. "Why else do you think Luffy would want to become the Pirate King himself? I mean, before Gold Roger, all people could ever hope to achieve was travel the whole Grand Line. But when Gold Roger declared that his treasure, the One Piece, was hidden on the Grand Line, people started to become pirates all over the place!"

Maria frowned, turning this new information over in her head. "...so, does that mean we're looking for the One Piece, too?"

"A pirate can't become the Pirate King without finding the legendary treasure first," Robin replied with a knowing smile.

"...come on, Coby! Meet the rest of my crew!"

Maria turned her head to look over at the wall again, blinking upon hearing Luffy's delighted voice.

There came a laugh as four figures approached the hole in the wall as one of the unfamiliar two spoke. "Okay, okay! We're probably going to be here for a while, anyway."

Maria blinked a couple times in confusion, cocking her head and frowning slightly as Luffy and Zoro stepped in with two unfamiliar teenagers: a boy with short, bright pink hair and glasses propped on top of his head, and a boy with long, bright yellow hair with what looked like a visor over his face.

"Hey, Luffy, Moss-Head," Sanji stated. "Who are these two?"

Zoro shot Sanji a glare while Luffy gave the cook a grin.

"These two are Marines training under my grandpa," Luffy replied. He clapped a hand on the shoulder of the pink-haired boy. "This is Coby. He and I met before I even had Zoro on my crew."

The boy -- Coby, looked around and gave a nod. "Hi. It's an honor to meet you guys."

"An honor?" Nami frowned and put her hands on her hips. "But aren't you a Marine?"

"I'm also Luffy's friend," Coby countered with a delighted smile.

Luffy hopped over and waved an arm at the orange-haired girl. "That's Nami. She's our navigator. Next to her is Robin, our archeologist, and Maria. She's got..uh...magnesia!"

" _Amnesia,_ " Maria corrected, wincing a bit at the murdering of the word.

"Really?" Coby looked at Maria in surprise. "What can you remember?"

"Not really all that much...but I'm getting stuff back. It's probably going to take a while, though."

"Shishishishi! Maria's pretty good in a fight, too!" Luffy looked over at the blond boy and the little reindeer nearby. "And that's Sanji, our cook, and Chopper, our doctor."

"You have a racoon-dog as a doctor?" Visor-Boy kneeled down in order to get a closer look at Chopper, who was glaring up at the Marine.

"I'm a reindeer, you jerk!" Chopper yelled, causing Visor-Boy to stumble back in surprise.

"It talks!"

"Chopper is a he, Visor-san," Robin spoke up gently. Maria grinned when she heard the nickname Robin had given him.

"My name is Helmeppo!" Visor-Boy declared as he got to his feet, annoyed.

Maria frowned. "Helmeppo? That sounds like some kind of hippo wearing a helmet."

Helmeppo growled and gritted his teeth while Luffy burst out laughing. Zoro, who was standing nearby with his arms folded across his chest, gave a sly smirk. Coby gave a half-smile and shook his head, looking amused.

"Yeah! Hippo Helmet!" Luffy laughed.

"It's Helmeppo!"

**Time Break**

Maria blinked a couple times as she watched Garp and the other Marines working at patching up the hole in the wall before sighing and shaking her head at the sight. Seriously, a man who decides that barging through a wall makes a better entrance than coming through the door? How could they even let people with that kind of logic into the Marines?"

"So, this grandpa of yours...." Sanji commented, watching the Marines at a closer distance than Maria was. "He's pretty famous."

"Beats me," Luffy replied. "I never really asked him about his job."

"Considering how much he _did_ beat you, I think that I would be scared to ask if I was in your position," Maria commented from where she was. Luffy glanced back at the amnesiac and gave a half-nod of agreement before looking back at his grandfather.

Garp paused in his hammering and glanced back at his grandson. "By the way, Luffy, I heard you met your old man a while back."

"Huh? My dad? Uh...I don't _think_ so. I didn't even think I _had_ a dad."

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Everybody's got a dad. How could _you_ not have one?"

Garp turned around and started hammering again. "That's a shame. I had thought that he would have introduced himself to you. From what I hear, he saw you off back at LogueTown."

"LogueTown?" Maria asked in confusion.

"The last city before the entrance to the Grand Line," Sanji explained, glancing back at the amnesiac. "We went there to pick up some final supplies and ended up running into some trouble with some other pirates and a Marine captain who's been chasing us ever since."

"It's also where Gold Roger was born and executed," Nami added from behind Maria.

"Really? Must be a pretty important place, then."

"Anyway, I remember what happened, but I sure don't remember Luffy's father," Sanji commented.

"Could you give me a hint here?" Luffy asked hopefully. "What's Dad like?"

The question made Maria wonder about her own father, but nothing came to mind except for a mild headache, a feeling of a love of history, and a bad feeling in the pit of her stomach.

"I'd like to know myself," Nami spoke up. "I can't imagine it."

Garp slammed his hammer onto the head of another nail. "The name of your father...is Monkey D. Dragon. The Revolutionary."

Except for Maria and Luffy, everyone on in the room reacted with absolute _shock,_ letting out exclamations of surprise and jumping back a step.

The amnesiac looked around in confusion. "What's going on with you guys?"

"Yeah," Luffy agreed, glancing back. "Why is everyone freaking out so much?"

"Are you kidding me?!" Sanji exclaimed. "Are you trying to tell me you've never heard of Dragon before?! Maria-san I understand, considering that she has amnesia, but _you?!"_

"He's a really dangerous man!" Nami piped up. "Like...really dangerous!"

Maria's eyes widened slightly upon hearing this, but then she frowned and cocked her head to one side as she looked at the shocked faces of the others. "How dangerous is that? Because I'm pretty sure attacking Enies Lobby was pretty dangerous."

"Even more dangerous than that!" Nami replied.

Luffy turned his head to look at the one person in the room who _wasn't_ freaking out. "Um...Robin?"

"I'm not exactly sure how I should explain this one," Robin commented. "Pirates like us are against the navy, but we usually don't attack them on our own. But there is one group that is directly opposing the authority of the World Government: the Revolutionary Army."

"Revolutionary Army?" Maria repeated, frowning slightly.

"Yes. And the man at the head of that group is Dragon."

"Whoa...." Maria couldn't believe her ears. First they found out that Luffy's grandpa was a Marine...now they find out his _dad_ is a rebel of some kind?

"By now, his ideology has spread to many nations, inducing world-wide rebellion. The government's hold has already collapsed in a number of regions. Naturally, the government is furious. They've labeled Dragon as the world's worst criminal, and will stop at absolutely nothing to hunt him down."

"So what's stopping them?" Maria asked. When everyone looked at the amnesiac, she shrugged and said, "It felt like there was a 'but' coming."

"I suppose you could say that," Robin agreed, nodding. "The problem is that no one knows a single thing about him. He's very mysterious. And yet...."

"And yet what?" Luffy prompted.

Robin didn't answer, instead, keeping her eyes locked on the one person in the room who seemed to know anything about the Revolutionary. Maria and Luffy followed her gaze and looked at Garp.

"Uh...that was a mistake, huh?" Garp turned around to look at the group, scratching the top of his head. "I probably shouldn't have said all that stuff." The man burst out into loud laughter.

"How is it that he managed to get to be this famous in the Marines?" Maria asked, confused.

"I take it all back. Forget it. Kay?" Garp gave a large, goofy grin.

"WHAAAAAT?!" everyone exclaimed.

"How can he say that after telling us all that?" Maria asked, frowning. The amnesiac turned to look over at Luffy. "Just how crazy _is_ your family?"

Luffy shrugged. "Dunno." He grinned and laughed while Maria looked at him in complete and utter confusion.


	39. A Day Off

"Luffy, since you're my grandson, I won't capture you and turn you over to the government. I'm sure if I tell them that, everyone will understand. Never put work before family, right?"

Maria, Chopper, Nami, and Sanji watched through the brand-new window in the repaired wall as Garp said his farewells to Luffy. She couldn't help but wonder if the man was normally friendly, even with his temper and his fists. However, it didn't exactly change her opinion of the man that much -- grandfather of her captain or not, Garp was terrifying!

"That's not an excuse, sir," stated a Marine in a trenchcoat. "Let's just say they got away."

"I mostly just came here as a favor to Coby and Helmeppo," Garp continued. "You boys take your time and chat it up all you like. I'm heading back to my ship for now."

"All right. So long!" Luffy raised a hand to wave at Garp, only to get a punch in the face.

"IS THAT ALL YOU'RE GONNA SAY??!!"

Maria winced and absently rubbed her cheek as though she had been punched there. Yeah, she was definitely scared of the man.

"At least pretend like you care!" Garp barked as Luffy bounced on the ground and landed with his head in the grass. "I'm your grandpa, and I haven't seen you in ages!"

"But I'm happy you're leaving!" Luffy barked back, sitting up and holding the top of his head. "All you've done is yell and hit me!"

"And tell us about your dad...." Maria muttered to herself. Nami nodded nervously in agreement.

"I still want my grandson to love me, you idiot! I'm not as heartless as you!"

"Heartless?" Maria frowned, but she still had her nerves running free enough that she didn't say anything more. She didn't want the old man to hit _her_ in the head for trying to defend his grandson's actions.

"I see stubbornness runs in the family," Nami commented. "And maturity, too."

Chopper and Sanji nodded in agreement. Maria just sighed through her nose.

**Time Break**

"That old man blew in and out like a storm," Sanji commented, putting a cup of tea down in front of Robin.

"Indeed." Robin nodded slightly in agreement. "I have to admit, the part about Dragon surprised me. And I thought _my_ family history was strange."

Maria looked up from the thick volume on her lap and looked over at Robin curiously. "Yeah. To think that someone has a Marine _and_ a Revolutionary in their family. His dad and his grandpa probably didn't get along very well when Dragon was growing up."

"Well, you can never tell with families like Luffy's," Sanji commented. He looked up at the upper bunk where Maria was sitting. "Are you sure you don't want any tea?"

Maria gave a slight smile and shook her head. "No, I'm fine. Thanks for offering, though."

"Anytime, Maria-san!"

"Speaking of Luffy...where is he?" Chopper spoke up, looking around.

"He's outside, talking to Coby and Helmeppo." Zoro, who was sitting on the floor, jabbed a thumb at the nearest window.

"Shouldn't you be out there, too?" the cook asked. "You're friends with them too, right?"

"Yeah, but I'm not as close. Besides, it was Luffy who saved Coby, not me."

Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing that, wondering what exactly it was that the swordsman had meant. However, the amnesiac thought back to when Luffy had introduced Coby to the crew, and remembered that the captain had brushed off any questions about how it was the two had met. She figured that Zoro would probably end up doing the same.

"Nami said something about going to learn some Navy secrets, but I guess she changed her mind," Chopper commented from where he sat at the table with Robin.

"She said she went to the pool with Kokoro and the others," the archeologist explained.

Maria looked up from reading about an "eleventy-first" birthday party when she heard that. "A pool?"

"Galley-La has a pool in the back for all its employees to use," Robin added.

"What? Does that mean Nami's in a swimsuit? I'd better bring her a drink!" There was a flash of blond hair and tornado legs, and the cook was out of the room in under a second.

"Ladies and gentlemen, a love tornado warning has been issued for the pool," Maria stated dryly as she went back to her book. "Expect the epicenter to be a man madly in love with every single woman except for mermaids old enough to be his great-grandmother and children who are shorter than his cyclonic legs."

Zoro snorted, an amused look crossing his face. "Love tornado, huh?"

"Have you _seen_ how his legs act?" Maria looked over the edge of the bed and down at the green-haired swordsman. "They literally turn into some kind of tornado whenever he's around girls!"

"Yeah, I've seen them. Doesn't mean I actually saw them as a tornado, though. I might be able to tease him about it sometime...." A wicked grin crossed Zoro's face.

Maria hummed in amusement, then went back to her book, frowning for a moment before she managed to find her place.

Bilbo Baggins was fingering something in his pocket when Luffy's voice came in through the new window Garp and the Marines had put in.

"Hey, Maria! Get out here!"

Maria looked up from the book, blinking a couple times. "Uh...okay! Be out in a couple minutes!" The amnesiac closed her book with a _snap!_ , then jumped off the upper bunk before jogging out of the room and to the front lawn of the Galley-La building, where Luffy, Coby, and Helmeppo were sitting on the rocky ruins of the HQ building.

"What's up, Luffy?" Maria asked as she came to a stop at the base of the rocks.

"Coby didn't believe me when I told him about that staff-thingy you've got," the black-haired captain explained, looking down at the amnesiac.

"There's no way that someone can do something like that without eating a Devil Fruit," the Marine boy countered. "I haven't heard of anyone being able to summon weapons out of mid-air, either."

"Maria can," Luffy retorted.

"Yup." Maria held out her right hand, summoning her phoenix staff easily. The amnesiac twirled it around for a moment, not at all worried about showing off -- Coby was a friend of Luffy's, so why wonder if he was going to try anything?

As an extra bonus, Maria poured a little energy into the staff, causing it to burst into flames that crawled up her right arm.

The pink-haired teen's eyes widened in surprise, and Helmeppo nearly fell off his seat in surprise.

"There's no way you should be able to do _that_!" Helmeppo exclaimed. "Fire Fist Ace is--"

"I just _control_ fire; I can't _become_ it like he apparently can." Maria shrugged. "I can do ice and electric spells, too, but I haven't been able to experiment with them too much yet."

Helmeppo and Coby looked at each other upon hearing this, then looked back at Maria. Luffy chuckled.

"Maria's strong, even with magnesia," the Straw Hat commented, grinning. "I can't wait to see what happens when you get stronger!"

Maria chuckled, then rubbed the back of her head in embarrassment at Luffy's declaration. "Well, we'll have to see, right? I'm probably not going to be able to remember everything for a while."

"So, what have you remembered?" Helmeppo asked. "I mean, considering that little thing you're doing there." He motioned to the still-fiery staff that rested in Maria's hand.

"She met a bunch of creatures that can use Devil Fruit powers without eating Devil Fruits!" Luffy exclaimed, grinning.

"What?! How is that even possible?"

The fire on Maria's staff and arm flared up a little, and the amnesiac let it fade out. "There's a lot of stuff that I still don't know too well about what happened back there...I mean, weather went out of control, some creature wanted to turn the planet into a world of darkness...." Maria shook her head. "And when I've mentioned stuff like this to other people, they say nothing like that's ever happened."

"Well, I haven't heard anything about stuff like that," Helmeppo commented, folding his arms across his chest. Maria couldn't see his eyes because of the visor that was over his eyes, but she got the feeling that he was being pretty smug about it.

"Something about that seems kinda familiar...." Coby trailed off, frowning thoughtfully. "I've heard some of the other Marines sharing stories sometimes -- some kind of legendary hero who goes between lands to make sure that the role of power stays pretty balanced in them. A few of the new recruits who haven't gone anywhere beyond their home seas actually claim that some of the lands that the legendary hero has visited exist on the Grand Line, though I'm pretty sure that isn't true. But...if _you_ mentioned a land where creatures can use abilities without eating Devil Fruits, then it might actually exist."

Helmeppo spluttered when he heard that. "Wh-what? You can't be serious!"

"Well, if a girl with amnesia can claim to use an ability like that without eating a Devil Fruit, I don't see why not." Coby shrugged.

Luffy laughed. "Shishishishishi! I'd like to go to this place sometime! Those creatures have to be pretty strong!"

"Some of them are," Maria spoke up. "I know for a fact that there's a couple that can control the land and the water. One looks like a blue killer whale and the other one is a giant molten dinosaur-thing."

Luffy laughed again and clapped his hands together. "Cool! I can't wait to meet them!"

"We'll have to see if we'll be able to." Maria shrugged, and a thoughtful expression crossed her face. "Kyogre took to the deep sea last I remember, and Athair the Groudon seemed more like the kind to wander. Last I heard, he had disappeared in some kind of cave system and asked not to be disturbed."

Luffy grinned and rubbed his hands together. "So we just find the next cave and see if we can meet him! Easy!"

"It may not be _that_ easy," Coby commented. "If they're in hiding, then they're going to be hard to find."

"Shishishishishi! Then that'll make it even more of an adventure to find them!"

Coby sighed and rolled his eyes at Luffy's comment while Maria shook her head.

"You're crazy," Helmeppo muttered.

**Time Break**

Luffy let out a whine. "What? You guys are going already? Stick around for dinner, at least."

"At the end of the day, we're still enemies." Coby shrugged. "We can't be too friendly with each other."

Maria, Luffy, Sanji, Chopper, and Zoro were standing near the front of her building (the swordsman looking out the window Garp had added), looking over at Coby and Helmeppo. The two Marine boys had just told the Straw Hats that they had to get going, and it was obvious that Luffy was sad to see them go.

Honestly, Maria was sad, too -- it wasn't everyday that you got to make friends with Marines that weren't out to kill you all the time.

"By the way...I was wondering if you've ever heard of the name they use for the second half of the Grand Line," Coby commented.

"The second half?" Maria repeated, frowning slightly.

"The other side of the Grand Line...and beyond the far reaches of the ocean...is a place that few pirates or Marines had ever seen. They call it the New World."

 _New World...?_ Something about the name seemed to stir up a kind of curiosity within Maria, as well as a familiarity with the name.

"The New World...." Luffy repeated, a smile coming to his face.

"There's a new era coming, and the people who can guide it are gathering on those seas. They say that the one who can master those waters will become King of the Pirates."

A surprised look crossed Maria's face, and she looked over at Luffy, remembering what it was that he had said when she had first met him. That was definitely where they were going to be going next...after Franky finished building their ship, of course.

"And I believe that one of these days, you and I will meet on those waters! When that time comes, I'll be even stronger -- strong enough to capture you! Because I promised myself that I'll keep trying...till...till I become a Marine Admiral!"

Maria's eyes widened in surprise when she heard Coby call that out. An _Admiral?_ Was that stronger or weaker than Garp was? The amnesiac wasn't exactly sure.

"No, I --" Coby fell on his rear, waving his hands in his face. "Sorry! I got carried away! This is so embarrassing...I just wanna dig a hole and bury my head in it!"

Now Maria was completely bemused. What kind of thought got into Coby's head to make him act like this? It was so unlike him that it was almost as though it was someone else acting in front of them!

"That was really arrogant of me -- I got worked up after seeing you again! And I just--"

"Coby." Luffy stopped the Marine short. "You said you're gonna fight me, right? Then you will become that strong. You'll have to."

Maria looked to her captain while Coby lifted his head to look at Luffy in shock. The amnesiac wondered what exactly was going through Luffy's head that made him say that. Were they going to fight next as friends...or as enemies?

"Next time I see you, we're going to be stronger, too," Luffy added. "A whole lot stronger."

Maria blinked a couple times, then turned her gaze back to Coby. She had no doubt that she would be able to remember more about herself if they ever ran into Coby again...but would it actually mean that she would become stronger?

Coby didn't seem to have expected the statement, because Maria caught sight of tears that seemed to start forming in his eyes.

"Look at that," Zoro suddenly called out from the window. "Turns out you're still a crybaby after all, huh, Coby?"

The swordsman's call caused Coby's eyes to widen, and he quickly rubbed at his eyes with a sleeve before bowing forward and slamming his head into the grass. The action startled Maria enough that she took back a step, eyes filled with bewilderment.

"I'm truly grateful that I was able to see you again today!" Coby scrambled up to his feet. "Just you wait! We're gonna get tougher and tougher! You'll see! Next time, we all meet in the New World! Farewell!"

With that, the pink-haired boy turned abruptly and ran off towards the gate, leaving Helmeppo to stare for a moment.

"H-hey! Wait!" Helmeppo quickly turned around, drawing his two strange-looking swords. "You two had better prepare yourselves, because Coby and I are going to blow you away, you hear me?! Coby, slow down!" The blond-haired Visor Boy turned abruptly and dashed off after Coby, who was nearly at the gate already.

"I can't slow down! I'm gonna run all the way to the New World!"

"What?! You've lost your mind!"

"Well, Luffy, you've done it again," Zoro commented. Maria turned to see the swordsman partially turned towards the inside of the building, just glancing back out at their captain. "You've found another powerful rival for our crew to fight."

"If Coby says he can do it, then I believe him," Luffy answered, still watching the two boys run off. He grinned. "Shishishishishi."

"You think so?" Maria asked, cocking her head slightly.

"Sure! Why couldn't he? I mean, everybody can get to be pretty strong if they want to be, right?" Luffy turned to look over at Sanji before Maria could say anything else. "Hey, Sanji! I'm hungry!"

"You're always hungry, dumbass," the cook responded in an irritated voice. He started to get up from where he was sitting. "But I guess food would probably be a good idea right now. I think I've got an idea for what we can have as dinner tonight."

Maria gained an interested expression. "Really? What is it?"

"You'll see."


	40. Party Time!

Maria inhaled deeply as she smelled what Sanji was cooking. Even sitting on a deck chair underneath an umbrella with Robin, the distance between Sanji's grill and the amnesiac's nose was seemingly next to nothing. And the smell of meat, vegetables, and fruit simmering away on the grill was making Maria's mouth water. Luffy was pretty hungry too, obviously -- he and Chopper were watching Sanji close enough that they could launch themselves at the food as soon as Sanji declared it done.

Maria was unhappy that she couldn't go into the pool in the meantime. She would have been just fine swimming around in her clothes, but Nami insisted that Maria stay out until they went shopping and got her more clothes than just what she happened to be wearing. The amnesiac doubted that she was going to actually be wearing anything Nami bought for her, though.

"Nami-swan!" Sanji turned away from his grill. "The water-water meat is all ready!"

Maria raised an eyebrow. _Water-water meat? Why call it that?_

"Okay!" Nami called back from the pool, waving with a large beach ball in one hand.

There came a loud splashing noise from the pool, followed by Kokoro's yell as she went flying through the air and landed right on the tiled edge of the pool.

"Wow, Granny!" Chimney exclaimed. "That was awesome!"

The mermaid laughed in reply. "That meat sure smells nice."

"She's right about that," Maria commented, her nose practically twitching at all the good smells she was picking up.

Robin chuckled. "Indeed. Cook-san certainly knows what he's going when it comes to food."

There came a loud yell of Sanji complaining, and Maria and Robin turned their heads and caught sight of Sanji beating the ground in front of Kokoro's feet.

Maria gave a chuckle. "He walked right into it again with her, didn't he?"

"It appears he did," Robin agreed. "I believe we had better move if we want some dinner for ourselves, Fire-san. Captain-san, Doctor-san, and Sniper-san may end up eating everything."

"Sniper-san?" Maria blinked in confusion.

"Look." Robin pointed over to where Sanji was putting his meat out for the others to eat. Sure enough, there was a certain masked long-nosed sniper sitting at the table with Luffy, Chopper, and Zoro.

"Where did he come from?" Maria asked in surprise. "I haven't seen him around at all for the past couple days."

"He was nearby when Garp came to visit us," Robin commented, "although he remained unseen then. He must have been drawn by the scent of food this time."

The two closed their books and walked over towards the table, where the four boys were really digging into the shish-kabobs that Sanji had finished cooking. Maria plopped herself down next to Zoro and across from Sogeking and grabbed one of the sticks of meat before digging in.

"So how is it, Robin-chan? Maria-san?" Sanji asked as the two started eating. "Is it juicy?"

"Yes, it's heavenly," Robin replied in a pleased tone. Maria hummed in agreement, nodding before taking another chunk of meat off the stick with her teeth.

"Look! It's them!"

The amnesiac turned her head upon hearing the loud exclamation, and she caught sight of the Franky Family running through the entrance to the company pool.

"What are they doing here?" Maria asked, frowning.

"Hey, Straw Hat!" Zambei hollered from the stairs. "Are you finally awake?"

"Oh, it's the Franky Family!" Luffy turned around in his seat and hollered, "Get over here and eat!"

"Barbecue time, boys!" Zambei hollered. There was an instant stampede as the men dashed down the stairs and over to where Maria and the others were already sitting.

"We've got too many guys and too little meat!" Luffy noted. "Go quick and get some more!"

There came the sound of something rumbling, and Maria turned her head from the Franky Family (which was making their way around the pool to Sanji) and caught sight of what looked like two large noses.

"It's Sodom and Gomorrah!" Chopper exclaimed, clearly delighted as the two King Bulls started to make their way down the stairs to where the food was.

"Save some for us!"

Maria tilted her head back a little upon hearing the voice, and her eyes widened in surprise when she caught sight of two giants standing near the entrance.

"Me, too," the orange-haired giant spoke up in agreement.

"Guys, over here! Hey!" Sogeking started waving his arms around.

At that point, Maria remembered why exactly here were giants on Water 7 -- Sogeking had everything to do with Oimo and Kashi leaving their posts and joining the pirates' side. They ended up coming back to Water 7 on the Puffing Tom with the others as a result, and had been helping get Dock 1 back together.

"Ahoy! Feeling better now?!"

Speaking of Dock 1....

"Oh, hey! Galley-La's here, too!" Luffy exclaimed, turning and grinning as the shipwrights started coming over. Maria turned, as well, and caught sight of Paulie in his black jacket walking over with Tilestone and Lulu, a large number of shipwrights following after them.

"Who said you could use the company pool anyway?" Paulie muttered. Then he caught sight of Nami. "GAH! Put on some clothes! Geez!"

Maria gave an ear-to-ear grin when she heard Paulie's exclamation, and she flat-out burst into laughter as Nami responded, "You've never seen a swimsuit before?"

Paulie gritted his teeth and growled before looking over at Maria. "Yeah, sure. Laugh it up now, cause yer not gonna get the chance to later!"

"Well, something smells delicious," Iceberg commented as he approached.

Paulie quickly scrambled to find something that he could hide Nami behind, which happened to be a pink towel that had been lying nearby.

Maria snickered at his actions. Short skirts and revealing shirts she could agree could be replaced with more modest clothes, but swimsuits were a completely different matter.

"Don't look, sir!" Paulie warned. "This perverted harlet is gonna corrupt your eyes with her filthy body!"

Nami raised her head above the towel, sending a glare up at Paulie. "Really, now...."

Maria shook her head. "Paulie, I think you can relax. I think Iceberg's probably seen girls in swimsuits before."

"In fact, I have," the mayor of Water 7 confirmed.

"WHAAAAT??!"

While Paulie was shocked, Nami took down the towel and dropped it on the ground, glaring up at the blond shipwright. "Now that _that's_ settled, you mind leaving me be?"

"We can't take a break once we get started on the ship!"

Maria turned her head away from Paulie, Nami and Iceberg as the shipwright and the navigator started to get into an argument. She caught sight of the person who had spoken standing up on one of the walls that went around the company pool...and Mozu wasn't alone.

"That's why we're gonna get all our partying done right now," Franky continued. "I know you guys got a seat set aside for me --"

"Cause Big Bro's the star of the show!" Kiwi exclaimed.

"Glad you could make it, Bro!" Zambei called out.

"All right, let's rock!"

Maria's gaze shifted, and she blinked in confusion when she caught sight of Sogeking standing tall on a pile of tables that had been stacked right in he middle of he pool area. _Since when did_ that _happen?_

"Who wants to hear the Sniper King's number one hit?!" Sogeking called out while taking some kind of pose.

"YEAH!!" Luffy called out, making Maria wince a little at how loud he was. "PARTY TIME!!"

Everything promptly settled into chaos, drinks and food being handed out all over the pool while Sogeking sang as loudly as he could from his perch -- which was actually pretty loud. Maria was amazed that he was able to stay on the tune of his song without accidentally causing a break in his voice.

And then Luffy...Maria was amazed that he could just keep on eating without stopping. Her captain's cheeks were getting stuffed _full_ of food to the point that the amnesiac would have thought they would have exploded by now. When was he going to swallow all that?

The amnesiac rolled her eyes and shook her head as she finished off her third kabob, smirking around her bites of meat. There was a lot about the crew that she was going to have to get used to, but the teen figured that she was going to have very little trouble doing so.

_ Zihihihihihihi! So, you did all survive.... _

Maria stiffened when she heard the strange voice echo in her head. What was _Airam_ doing _there?_

_ I have my ways, Maria. _

_ You can hear my thoughts?! _

_ Distantly. I contacted you to congratulate you on managing to survive Enies Lobby in one piece. However, do not expect it to be that easy to survive from here on in...Zihihihihihi.... _

A shudder ran up and down Maria's spine. Airam was starting to freak her out. Not only did Airam claim to know Maria, but Airam could now talk to her in her head?! 

Was privacy not sacred anymore?!

Maria was shaken from her nerve-wracked thoughts by the sound of Luffy calling Robin's name. The teen looked up...and gave an amused snort.

"How much meat can you eat?" Luffy asked, chopsticks going from his nose to his lower lip, cheeks so full he looked like some kind of humanoid chipmunk.

Chopper and Sogeking burst out into loud laughter, falling onto their backs and clutching at their sides like they could get more air that way.

"Why won't you guys act mature for once?!" Nami demanded, stomping over.

"Asking them to do that is probably the equivalent of asking Paulie to stop asking you to cover up!" Maria called over to the navigator. "It's just going to do nothing!"

Paulie sent the amnesiac a glare from where he was sitting and eating, but he didn't say anything because his mouth was stuffed full of food.

"Well, if that won't work, I'll just pound some sense into him!" Nami declared, clenching a fist and winding up her arm as she approached Luffy, Chopper, and Sogeking.

Maria gained a nervous expression, but she didn't say anything to try and dissuade the navigator as she started pulling at the chopsticks in Luffy's nose. Something told her that anything she would say wouldn't get through to them.

"Maybe I should try it," Robin suggested, chuckling as she ran over to them.

"Yeah, Robin! Do it! Do it!" Luffy pumped his fists into the air has he chanted.

"No! You're a bad influence on Robin!" Sanji barked.

Luffy simply laughed at the cook's response. Maria simply sighed again.

"Well, if you can't beat 'em...." ****

** Space Break **

A figure trekked away from the stone wall, glancing back as she watched a man on a bicycle rolling away in another direction. She couldn't believe that Aokiji had decided to come and confront Robin like she had come to confront her counterpart, but she figured that it must have been meant to happen.

All the same, Ariam hadn't expected that Maria would have been contactable in the state she was in. Her counterpart should have known better than to -- oh, wait. She _didn't._

Maria was as naive as a five-year-old, practically. Which made their first contact in Enies Lobby all the more disappointing. Airam had no doubt that would change, but when and where that would happen was a completely different story.

"Considering this world, I may have to wait for the so-called King of the Pirates to reach the New World," Airam muttered gloomily. A wicked grin crossed her face. "However, that doesn't mean I can't mess with her head in the meantime...." ****


	41. More visions...but of what?

When Maria woke up the next morning, she was lying on her bunk with _The Lord of the Rings_ open on her chest and the feeling that there was something _bad_ going on somewhere else in the world. The vision and memories that she had seen in her dreams only cemented that feeling.

The amnesiac sat up, careful to move her book off herself without causing any of the pages to get crinkled, rubbing her head and letting out an indecipherable groan.

"Is there something wrong, Maria?"

Maria turned her head and caught sight of Robin sitting at the table, a book on the wooden surface and a cup of tea in one hand.

"Uh...." Maria rubbed the back of her head as she frowned, her eyes seeming to darken the shade. "I'm not sure. It's got a lot to do with my memories, but...there's something else, too." She slipped off the bed and landed on the floor with ease, the soles of her shoes hitting the plank-covered floor with a soft _thud_.

"Oh? And what do you mean by that?"

"It's...." Maria paused for a moment. "It's got something to do with who I was before I lost my memory, probably. See, when I regain some of my memories, sometimes I get visions of what's happened in other places, too. The others already know I've got this ability, but...." The amnesiac trailed off.

"That certainly sounds like an interesting technique," Robin noted, putting down her cup of tea and looking at Maria with a little bit more of an interested look on her face. "Did you see something last night?"

The amnesiac nodded. "Yeah...but I don't know if I can tell the others or not about this. Do you...do you mind keeping this a secret for me?"

"I could," Robin admitted, "but keeping secrets from your crewmates isn't exactly recommended."

"None of you have told each other about your pasts. I know that much. If you can keep this a secret for me, it'll be more than enough."

"What makes you think that we hide our pasts from each other?" Robin gave a curious frown.

Maria paused, feeling her heartbeat hitch for a second. Then she took in a breath and stated, "Back in Enies Lobby, when we were waiting for the drawbridge to come down, I...I saw what happened in your past. With Ohara getting the Buster Call. You can ask Nami -- I broke down in tears, but I didn't give any details beyond what I saw besides the fact that it was your past. And Nami hasn't asked me for details about what happened, either."

Robin looked at Maria in alarm, her blue eyes widening in shock. "You...." Robin shook her head. "That's impossible."

"I can give you more proof if you need it." Maria bit her lower lip. "Not that I really want to, considering how much you've been through."

Robin's shocked expression changed to her usual composed expression. "Tell me what some of...my friend's last words were."

Maria didn't even need to ask who Robin was referring to. " 'Ain't no one born into this world to be alone'."

Robin's eyes widened. "Now, what was it that you saw?"

Maria looked at the archeologist directly, their blue eyes locking together. "Do you know a pirate with a large white mustache and another pirate with red hair and a three scars over one eye?"

"Whitebeard and Red-Hair Shanks? How do you know them?"

"I don't know them. I saw them."

"What were they doing?"

"Shanks came to talk to Whitebeard about something. As soon as he stepped on the other guy's ship, a lot of people were fainting all over the place. Someone mentioned something about his 'haki' being strong--whatever that means. Anyway, Shanks basically told Whitebeard to have someone named Ace stop hunting down some guy named Blackbeard. I have no idea why he'd ask him to do something like that.... Whitebeard didn't like him for it, and he came at Shanks with this huge sword-staff weapon, which Shanks managed to stop. And then this huge rift in the sky appeared above their ships -- like the sky'd been cut or something."

Robin listened to Maria's story without saying anything, and the two stood -- or sat -- for a few moments. Maria felt like there was some sort of weight that was crushing down onto her shoulders while they stood there, so in order to take her mind off it, she brought out her staff and shifted her hands around it. It felt strangely comforting to feel the wood in her hands.

After a moment, the amnesiac added, "I don't know how it came to me, and I don't know why. But it did. I had one later on about the ship that you were burning--the _Going Merry_. I may know nothing about that ship, but something in my heart revealed to me everything that the ship has gone through."

Maria looked at Robin with fear in her eyes. "I don't know what's happening to me, and I want to find out what it is so badly that I'd travel to the ends of the earth in order to figure it out."

"Well, what better way to do that than travel with the crew?"

Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing Robin's question before slamming her right fist into an open palm. "Exactly! That's why I wanted to travel with them in the first place -- Luffy gave me the chance to actually go out there and find someone who might know more about me! If I can, then I might be able to know more about who I was!"

Robin gave a slight smile and chuckled. "That would certainly be a wise way of getting around to it."

**Time Break**

"Forget them?" Zoro frowned. "The Franky Family really ripped up the place."

"Yeah." Maria nodded and dropped a copy of the newspaper on the table, where Luffy, Chopper, and Nami were sitting, their captain snacking on a donut. "We probably wouldn't have been able to get to Robin in time if it wasn't for them." The amnesiac glanced over at the archeologist, who looked like she was lost in thought. "What made them pull the Franky Family out of it? And the shipwrights, too?"

"Maybe your grandpa?" Sanji suggested, turning to look at Luffy. "Like he pulled some strings and told the government they were just some innocent bystanders?"

Luffy frowned, looking up at the ceiling. "Nah, that's too complicated for him."

"Yeah," Nami and Chopper agreed. "What Luffy said."

"But then...who did?" Maria frowned in confusion and placed her hands on her hips. No one made to answer her question.

"At any rate, that's good for them," Sanji commented. "Obviously, we're criminals. I would hate to see anyone get wrapped up in this mess after our lives were put on the line."

"You'd think they'd feel that way, because they had plenty to say about us," Zoro commented, paging through his own copy of the newspaper as he sat on the floor.

Maria had been surprised to find that the swordsman could read, and Sanji had poked fun at him before Zoro had rapped him over the head with the paper and said that he was looking at the news from Enies Lobby.

"A declaration of war on the World Government," Zoro muttered. "They even blame us for burning down the island."

"But wasn't that Span-dumb's call?" Maria asked, frowning. "He's the one who set it off -- why blame us?"

"They don't want those damn Marines to look like fools, that's why," Sanji muttered, scowling.

"I can guarantee that our bounties are going to go through the roof after this one." Zoro grinned.

Chopper let out an eager cry. "Does that mean I'll finally get a bounty?"

"Maybe," Sanji replied. "You'll probably get something."

"Considering how much damage I did, I'll probably get something," Maria commented, frowning slightly. She looked over at the swordsman. "How big are your bounties now, again?"

"Well, I'm sixty million, Robin's seventy-nine million, and Luffy's a hundred million." Zoro jabbed a thumb in Luffy's direction as their captain grabbed another donut. "After what's happened, they'll definitely be going up." Zoro folded up the newspaper and got to his feet, placing the collection of papers on the bed he had been leaning against.

"But mine's gonna be bigger this time," Sanji commented, smirking. "A Bright Star Appears...." His smirk turned into a large grin.

"What are you excited about?!" Nami snapped, turning and glaring at Sanji. "This is terrible news!"

"Terrible?" Maria repeated, frowning.

"I don't want a bounty on my head!" Nami wailed in reply, turning to look at the amnesiac. "People are going to be looking for me planning on taking my head! I can't let that happen!"

"Hey, relax," Maria responded quickly, raising her hands in a warding off gesture. "We aren't going to be staying here forever, remember? As soon as Franky's done building that ship for us for free, then we can get out of here, right?"

Luffy jumped to his feet and looked at the amnesiac in surprise. "Huh? Franky's building us a ship and we don't even have to pay for it?!"

"Oh, that's right -- you were asleep when he said that," Sanji commented, taking a seat at the table.

"Awesome! I guess Franky's not a jerk after all!" Luffy raised his fists into the air excitedly as he jumped from one foot to the other. "Franky's a nice guy!"

Chopper turned to look at Zoro, who had moved to stand behind the reindeer with his arms folded across his chest. "I can't wait to see how it turns out!"

"I can't, either," Maria agreed, nodding.

"Now we can use the rest of our money to buy supplies for the voyage." Nami got up from the table and walked over to a safe that was sitting nearby -- Maria remembered that the navigator had placed their money inside after they had managed to regain it from the people who had the rest of the Straw Hats' belongings.

"Hope this one's equipped with a weight room," Zoro commented as Nami opened the safe and looked inside.

"A weight room?" Maria looked at the swordsman with a curious expression.

"I'm not exactly eager to keep working out on deck," the green-haired man explained.

"As long as it has cannons, I'm happy!" Luffy responded.

Nami started making frustrated noises, and Maria and the others turned to see that the navigator had stuck her head into the safe and was wiggling her rear back and forth.

"Wow, that's some dance," Luffy commented.

"I don't think that's supposed to be a dance...." Maria responded.

Nami pulled the safe off her head with a _pop!_ , then pulled out a small stack of bills and glared at it. Then she turned and asked sweetly, "What happened to our one hundred million beris?"

Zoro started walking away, grabbing Maria's orange jacket and pulling her along with him, getting a yelp of surprise out of the amnesiac.

"Oh, that?" Luffy asked. "I already spent it all. We needed to buy lots of meat and booze for the party."

"Spent it?" Nami repeated. Her face started to glow red.

Zoro let go of Maria when they got over to the beds, and the swordsman turned around to watch what was going on. Maria moved to stand next to him.

"Why did you drag me?" Maria asked, annoyance slipping into her voice.

"Just watch," Zoro replied gruffly.

"You spent all of my money?!" Nami yelled, an angry expression crossing her face before it reverted to the nicer, sweeter expression that was on her face.

"Well, everyone was really hungry," Luffy responded. He started to sound uncertain.

Nami let out a growl of frustration, then slammed her head into the top of the safe before turning to glare at Lufy. "How could you spend so much money on booze?! There's hardly anything left!"

"Of course there isn't! The whole town was partying with us, and they didn't go home until morning, remember?"

"And I went to bed before then," Maria commented in reply, frowning.

Zoro snorted. "You don't know how to party."

"I do know my limits, though, and one o'clock in the morning was it."

"Sure was fun, huh?" Luffy laughed at the memory.

Maria's eyes widened in alarm when Nami _launched_ herself at Luffy and started to punch him in the face with such ferocity that the amnesiac flinched and stepped back in surprise. "Oh, man...." She looked up at Zoro. "Thanks."

The swordsman grunted in reply.

"Uh...since the ship's free, we'll be fine," Luffy stated, his face turning a dark purple with three dangerously large bumps forming on his head. "So no worries, right?"

Nami collapsed onto the floor and started crying. "I just wanted nice furniture for the ship! Does that sound wrong?"

Robin walked over to the navigator and clapped a hand on her shoulder. "We can still check out the resale shops."

"Hey. Can I have some of that money to play with?"

Maria took another step back when Nami instantly stiffened upon hearing Luffy's question.

"I'D BETTER TAKE IT TO THE GRAVE!!!" Nami roared as she turned to glare at Luffy. "YOUR ALLOWANCE IS REVOKED!!!"

Maria flinched as another fist slammed into Luffy's face.

"Yes, ma'am!" Luffy yelped.

Nami let out a sigh of annoyance, then turned her attention to the others. "Does anyone need any money to buy any _actual_ supplies?"

"I'm fine," Maria responded quickly, holding up her hands. "I'm content with the two books and the journal I got with Robin."

"We're going to need food to stock the new fridge with," Sanji commented.

"I'll go with you to find the furniture we can use," Robin offered.

Nami nodded in approval. "Good." She looked down at Chopper. "And, considering that you've already go the medical supplies you need, why don't you take the rest of the money as your allowance?"

"Really?" the reindeer asked in amazement.

"Really." Nami promptly split the small pile into even groups of three and handed part of it to Sanji and another portion to Chopper. "That'll be your allowance for Water 7. Go ahead and have fun, okay, Chopper?"

"Okay!"

"Hey -- can I come with you?" Luffy asked, looking at the crew's doctor with a curious expression. Maria was somewhat unnerved that she could tell despite his beaten state.

"Sure!"

"I'm gonna head out, too," Zoro commented. He started to move towards the door, Chopper and Luffy following after him.

"I'd better get moving if I'm going to get those supplies," Sanji commented. He looked over at Maria. "You wanna come?"

Maria shook her head. "No thanks. I think I'll stay here and read while I'm waiting for you guys to get back. I'm really curious about what's happening in the book I'm reading right now."

"All right, then. See you later." Sanji stepped out of the room, Nami and Robin following after the cook.

"You make sure that Luffy doesn't do anything if he gets back ahead of us!" Nami ordered as she walked out the door.

"S-sure," the amnesiac stuttered, nodding as she remembered what the navigator had done to Luffy.

Nami gave a nod of approval, then turned and walked out after Robin.


	42. Memory Contemplation

Maria sighed for what felt like the umpteenth time as she looked down at the pages of _The Lord of the Rings._ She had been reclining on her bed for what felt like the past hour, just reading the novel and enjoying the magical world that was being woven together through those words. However, the amnesiac wasn't exactly able to fully enjoy it. There was something else that was bothering her...and it had something to do with _her_.

"I've got to make sense of these memories," the teen muttered, frowning down at the words on the pages in front of her. "Gandalf and Frodo will have to wait for a while, I think." She picked up the shredding of newspaper that she had started to use to mark her place, then placed it where she was and closed the book, placing it down on the bed and looking up at the ceiling, lying down on the bed and putting her hands behind her head.

"Coby said it might be possible that the Pokemon I saw exist -- I know they do, but...would that mean that I came from the New World -- the place that we're going? How would that even be possible?" A frown worked its way across Maria's face. "Maybe if I go through my memories one place at a time, I'll get a hint or something. Let's see...I think I was a Vulpix first...."

Maria bit her lower lip and nibbled a little on it as she considered what she knew of the Pokemon creatures and her own time as one. From what she could recall off the top of her head, there were somewhere over 600 Pokemon -- but the amnesiac got the feeling that there were more -- and about 17 different specific elements they could control. But the question was...how exactly could so many creatures with that kind of power exist and no one knew about them except for her?

It was driving the amnesiac crazy enough as it was when she had been at Enies Lobby, fighting without really thinking about it. Maybe even more so.

However, there was one thing out of everything else that was really bothering her....

"That Pikachu said that I'd had amnesia before," Maria muttered, frowning to herself as she thought back through all the dreams that she'd had over the past week. "It certainly seems that way. I keep talking about weird-sounding stuff in my memories sometimes...and there's some stuff that's still fuzzy from confronting Cyrus on Mt. Coronet on...." The amnesiac sat up and adjusted her orange jacket and red shirt before crossing her legs and placing her elbows on her knees, allowing for her head to rest in her hands. "Just what have I _done_ in the past? I can't stand not knowing like this!"

The amnesiac groaned quietly to herself, not exactly knowing if her mind was going to answer her question for her right at that moment or not. When it didn't, Maria gave a growl of annoyance and, grumbling under her breath along the lines of "stupid memory," the amnesiac turned and started to reach for _The Lord of the Rings_ again, intent on losing herself in Bilbo Baggins' home and the strange news of the ring that had been left in Frodo's position.

Unfortunately, she hadn't even been able to grab the book when a headache hit Maria full-on, causing her to let out a yell of pain and double over, clenching at her head with both hands as though that would remedy the problem.

Pictures flashed through Maria's mind faster than she could keep up, but she was able to catch occasional glimpses of things she had managed to see before: her as a Vulpix, staring up at Dialga, her body ready to spring one way or the other as a result of the fight that she had found herself in; Maria standing in human form with a Pikachu on her shoulder as she glared up at Dialga again. The phoenix-topped staff was in her right hand, gripped loosely.

The pictures shifted again, showing Maria facing down a man with spiky blue hair and a crazed look in his eyes. Behind him, flashes of gold, silver, pink, and other bright colors flashed through the air as loud roars caused the top of the mountain Maria was standing on to shake.

When Maria came back to herself, she was even more confused than she had been before.

"Where did all of that come from?" Maria sat back upright, rubbing her head and glaring up at the ceiling as though that had been what caused her headache. Something tugged at the back of her mind, but the whatever-it-was didn't fully come to the forefront of Maria's mind. It kind of felt like...something was blocking it for some reason.

Maria frowned. "What exactly is going on with my head?"

Just then, the doors leading into the living space burst open, and Maria turned her head upon hearing the noise, stiffening up for a moment before relaxing.

"Luffy? Chopper?" The amnesiac blinked a couple times. "Why do you two look so exhausted?"

"We were running away from the townspeople," came the reindeer's reply. Chopper collapsed onto his back, his body rising and falling like some kind of balloon. "They...they wanted our autographs...."

"Autographs? Did they really like us that much after the party last night?"

Luffy grinned with a somewhat wicked, somewhat delighted expression. "Yeah. And we helped a little girl out, too! At least she won't have to worry about her yagara anymore."

"Her yagara? What do you mean?"

Chopper sat up and looked up at Maria. "There was a girl who was trying to find her old yagara. He disappeared during Aqua Laguna, and she wanted us to help find him."

"So we did!" Luffy threw his hands into the air with a delighted expression. "It was pretty fun, going under the city! Shishishishishishi!"

"Under the city? Cool!" Maria's eyes widened in amazement. "That had to be pretty amazing to see!"

"Eh. I guess it was kinda cool. I mean, there were a lot of places to explore, and it was all dark and mysterious, but it's got a lot of water down there, too. I wouldn't be able to explore too far if I went down there again." Luffy made a lazy waving motion, then wandered over to the fridge and opened the door, sticking his head in. "Meat, meat, meat...."

Maria blinked a couple times. "I didn't think that you were smart enough to come up with something like that, Luffy."

"Yeah, well, Nami'll probably get mad at me if she finds out that I nearly died again, so...." Luffy pulled back from the fridge with a stick of meat in one hand and bit down, a delighted look crossing his face. "Mmm! Delicious!"

Maria glanced over at Chopper, who shrugged helplessly.

"I haven't heard him act that smart before," the reindeer admitted. "I think I'll check him over later just to make sure Nami didn't hit his head too hard or something like that."

Maria nodded slightly in agreement with Chopper's statement.

"So, anything happen while we were gone?" Chopper asked, looking up at Maria with a curious expression.

The amnesiac shook her head. "It's been pretty quiet, so I've been able to make some progress in my book, but I haven't gotten too far yet. I'll probably have more time when we get out to sea, though."

"Maybe. It depends on whether or not Nami gives you a list of chores to do." Chopper sighed. "And whether or not a storm come up...or we run into Marines, either. Anything could happen out there."

"In that case, I should probably get back to reading." Maria reached over and picked up her book in both hands before dropping the thick volume on her lap and opening it up to where she had placed the scrap of newspaper.

"Sure." Chopper turned, then let out a yell and dashed for Luffy. "Luffy! Don't eat all our food!"

"Why? I'm hungry!" Luffy took another bite of the meat that he had taken from the fridge.

Maria could see what looked like a small stack of cleaned off bones near the fridge and couldn't help but wonder how much exactly it was that their captain had managed to eat already.

"Yeah, but so will everyone else when they get back!"

"Sanji's getting food; we should be fine!" Luffy waved off the panicked reindeer as he finished cleaning the bone and started to look for something else.

"Nami'll probably get pretty mad if you eat everything we already have," Maria commented from her perch.

Luffy paused, his upper body completely in the fridge. "Oh, yeah...." Straw Hat retreated from the fridge and closed the door in a huff, looking disappointed as he rubbed the top of his straw hat. "Nami can hit pretty hard...but not as hard as Grandpa."

"Considering how you reacted when he first got here, I can imagine."

Luffy shook his head. "No, you can't. You don't know how hard my grandpa hits until he hits you. And you don't want that." He closed the fridge behind him and plopped down onto a nearby chair, folding his arms across his chest. "I'm bored."

"It shouldn't take the others too much longer, should it?" Maria countered, frowning out of curiosity.

"Nami can take forever when she goes shopping," Chopper stated sagely. "And Zoro probably got himself lost again. And Sanji could be flirting with another girl."

Luffy closed his eyes and nodded sagely in agreement with the reindeer's statement.

"Well, they shouldn't be out forever." Maria shrugged. "Sanji knows that I'm still here, so he's going to come back before the sun sets to make us something to eat, at least. Nami and Robin should be back before then, at least."

"And then we're going to have to go out and hunt down Zoro," Luffy added, grinning. "He's always getting lost."

"Unless he wanders back here on his own," Maria countered. "That could happen, too."

"Maybe." Chopper shrugged. "We usually have to find him first, though."

Maria cocked her head to one side, considering the reindeer's statement. She was about to answer when the doors flew open again and Nami came in.

"Come out and give me a hand, you two!" Nami looked over at Luffy and Chopper. "I need your help moving the furniture we bought into the storage room at the back of the building. Come on!" She raised a fist threateningly.

"You could just ask them nicely, Navigator-san," came Robin's voice as she stepped into the room herself. There was a bag positioned over her shoulder, and Maria could guess that there were probably more books inside.

"That doesn't tend to work, Robin," Nami responded, glancing back at the archeologist. "You know that." She turned and glared at the two boys. "So come on! You're going to move the furniture before Sanji gets back, or else you're not getting any food!"

Luffy's eyes widened, and he leapt out of his chair and dashed out of the room in a blur. Chopper was quick to scramble after him.

"I should probably go and help, too," Maria commented, closing her book and setting it aside.

"Nah, they'll be fine," Nami stated, waving one hand carelessly. "They do this kind of thing all the time, so they shouldn't break a sweat about this."

The navigator went and sat down at the table while Robin moved over and started to sit down, as well, placing the bag down next to her and pulling out one of the objects that was inside. As Maria had previously suspected, a book was pulled from the bag and was placed on the table.

"If you say so," Maria commented uncertainly. She started to reach for _The Lord of the Rings_ again and just slipped her fingers between the pages, opening the book without moving it onto her lap. "When do you think Sanji and Zoro will get back?"

"Sanji had better get back before nightfall," Nami muttered. "As for Zoro, he can wander in and out of the alleys of Water 7 for however long he wants to. He can handle himself."

"Well, yeah, but he's probably going to be hungry if he gets back after Sanji does, right?"

"Well, of course he'll probably be hungry! But I doubt that he's going to be getting back that late."

As if on cue, Zoro stumbled into the room, panting and looking like he had just run a marathon. In one hand, he was carrying a small bundle of cloth.

"What happened?" Maria asked, looking at the swordsman with an expression of surprise and confusion.

"Don't ask," Zoro growled in reply. He turned and stalked off, growling something about a stupid woman and her stupid family under his breath.

Nami and Maria watched him disappear out the back door with expressions of confusion, while Robin simply looked amused.

"I believe Zoro has had a pretty rigorous day," the archeologist noted. "I wonder where he got such a strange shirt from...."

"Huh?" Maria looked at the dark-haired woman in confusion.

"The cloth that he was carrying. It looked like it might be a shirt. However, it would be much too small for a man of Zoro's size. I wonder how he came into ownership of it." A sly smirk managed to make its way across Robin's face.

Maria blinked a couple times out of confusion. "Why would he have a shirt? He's wearing one already."

"Perhaps he bought it, or perhaps he was given it. You can never tell when Zoro disappears for a few hours." Robin gained a knowing smile, and she turned her attention to the book that she had pulled out and started to read it.

"Uh...if you say so." Maria's gaze wandered back to her book, and she started reading again, picking up where she had left off. _Why is Gandalf so afraid of a ring that can make the wearer invisible...?_

**Time Break**

It got to be pretty late in the afternoon by the time that Sanji returned.

"Oi! Chopper! Moss-Head!" the cook barked as he poked his head into the living space the Straw Hats had claimed. "Get out here and give me a hand with moving the food, will ya?"

Luffy jumped up from where he was sitting on the floor while Maria glanced up from reading about four main characters having a meal in some kind of bar.

"Can I--"

"No!" Sanji cut Luffy short. "You'd just try to eat all of it before I could actually cook it!"

Luffy gained a pouting expression. "Ah, come on, Sanji...."

"No." Sanji moved his gaze to the swordsman sitting next to one of the beds, inspecting his swords' blades. "Come on, Moss-Head. I don't have all day to make dinner, you know."

Zoro shot the cook a glare. "Just give me a second, all right? Sheesh." He sheathed the sword that he had been looking at, then got up to his feet and folded his arms across his chest. "Now where is it and where do you want it?"

The cook scowled, then turned and motioned for the swordsman to follow him out. Chopper, who had already moved to stand by the door, followed the two out right on their heels.

"It's about time he got back," Nami commented from where she sat at the table. Piles of paper were scattered around her, and Maria could see that most of them were covered in what looked like some kind of grid. "I was starting to wonder if he had picked up a bad sense of direction from Zoro."

"Perhaps Sanji was caught up with buying all the supplies that we needed, Nami," Robin suggested, glancing up from her book. It had only been a couple hours, and the archeologist was already an eighth through her book. Granted, it was thinner than Maria's, but the amnesiac marveled at the woman's speed.

Maria made a mental note to try and read more so that she could get less rusty with the ability and move faster through her chosen reading material.

"If he was, then that means that he's probably spent every last beri that I gave him, which is okay...I guess...." Nami gained a scowling expression. "I'd hoped that we'd be able to get away from here with at least _a little_ bit more money than we usually do."

"Maybe next time," Robin suggested.

"Maybe," Nami agreed.

There came the sound of Zoro complaining from outside the door.

"What did you fill these things with? Twenty pound rocks?" Zoro demanded as he came through the door, carrying two large burlap sacks on his back.

"No, you idiot. Do you really think that I'd throw rocks into my recipes?" Sanji asked dryly as he came in after the swordsman, smoking a cigarette and a large bag over one shoulder. Maria could see a stick of celery sticking out the top, among other things. "Put them down over there by the fridge, then help Chopper move the rest to the storage area, okay?"

Zoro scowled and muttered something that sounded like a string of insults under his breath as he moved over to the corner of the room closest to the fridge. The two sacks were rolled off his back and onto the floor without a second thought before the swordsman was out the door again.

Maria looked at the sacks curiously, wondering what exactly was in them and why Sanji had decided to buy them. It was probably food, all things considered, but what exactly was it that was _in_ the sacks that the cook needed?

After Zoro left out the door -- and got yelled at by Sanji for going the wrong way -- the cook turned towards the kitchen and started to take food out of the bag that he had been previously carrying. And then the cook's hands started to fly as he grabbed utensils from all over the kitchen and started to prepare the food, chopping up the vegetables, setting a pot of boiling water out over the stove and dropping stiff noodles into it.

Maria was amazed at how fast Sanji was moving. Sure, she had seen him entertaining kids at the party last night with his cooking skills, but she had been practically pushed all over the pool area by the residents of Water 7 who had wanted to meet the amnesiac from Dock 1 who had turned into a hero herself.

The amnesiac vowed to make a point of enjoying this particular show as much as she could, and shifted a little bit so that she could watch Sanji work a little better.

Almost as though Sanji could sense that there was a pair of eyes on him, the cook started to move with a different air about him -- almost as though each of his movements was meant to be more flowing and graceful than anything else. A delicious smell started to fill the air, and Maria was forced to try and keep her saliva actually in her mouth rather than out of it.

Zoro and Chopper came back into the room, and the reindeer shifted from his Heavy Point down to his cute little half-and-half form. The swordsman stomped over to his swords and pulled one out before examining the blade closely. Maria wondered what exactly the swordsman was going to do with it. She figured that there had to be a way that people kept their blades sharp, but she wasn't exactly sure how.

She never got to find out, however, because Zoro quietly resheathed the two swords he had pulled out and glared at the third one that he had left lying on his bed. At the same time, Luffy got a little too close to the working cook.

"Wait until it's ready, Luffy!" Sanji barked, kicking his captain in the face and sending him flying into a nearby wall. "I don't want your face getting within an inch of this, or else it could be gone before I'm done!"

"Aw, come on, Sanji!"

"No means no!"

Maria blinked a couple times upon seeing this interaction between the two of them. Luffy must have bothered Sanji a lot if the cook was that prepared to kick the captain out of the kitchen.

"I'm almost done," Sanji added, "so if you can _wait_ for a couple minutes, then I'd be able to feed you idiots and the ladies."

That statement had Chopper and Luffy rushing for the table, causing Nami to yelp in surprise and quickly gather her sheets of paper closer to herself in a protective manner. The navigator glared at the two while Maria licked her lips out of hunger.

"Food sounds nice right about now," Maria commented, turning and climbing down from the bunk that she had been sitting on.

"Indeed," Robin agreed, smiling slightly. She picked up the bag that was next to her and moved the books off the table and over onto the bed that she had chosen for herself.

No one had to wait long for Sanji to finish up with dinner. The cook quickly came around and handed out plates of what looked like a pasta dish -- ladies first, of course.

Maria fingered her silverware for a moment, wondering what exactly was the proper way to eat a noodle dish like this. When she caught sight of Robin twirling her fork around in the dish before lifting a small clump of noodles up to her mouth, the amnesiac got a short blast of memory of her doing the exact same thing.

Unfortunately, the people who had also been eating the dish with her were completely shadowed over, she Maria couldn't exactly tell who it was that she was sitting with. However, she did get a general good vibe from them.

Maria stuck her fork in center of the pasta dish and started to twirl it around quickly. She ended up coming up with a messy, large lump of noodles and sauce, but the amnesiac didn't care -- she was hungry, and she could eat however she liked -- judging from how Luffy and Zoro were shoveling their helpings into their mouths like pigs.

The amnesiac stuffed her fork-full into her mouth and started to chew the noodles down into a pulp. As Maria had expected, her full mouth had to work overtime in order to get the noodles into something that she could swallow without choking herself.

However, she did _not_ expect the sudden blast of flavor that came along with her mouthful. Maria's eyes widened in surprise before she swallowed and started to work at the rest of the noodles, savoring the strange taste that came along with it.

"This is delicious!" Nami exclaimed, having discovered the same thing that Maria had.

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed through a mouth overflowing with noodles. He swallowed down, and Maria watched as a lump moved through his throat and down into his main body.

"Cook, this isn't half-bad," Zoro commented, finishing off his own dinner.

"Anybody want seconds?" Sanji called out from where he stood by the stove.

"YEAH!" came the unanimous response from the boys.

"Just let me finish off my first helping," Maria complained before continuing through her plate of noodles. "I'll get another helping when I'm done!"

"Take your time, Maria-san," Sanji called back pleasantly. He went around the table again, dishing out more noodles to the empty plates before retreating again and dishing out a plate for himself, a pleased expression clear on his face.

Maria didn't bother to respond to the cook; she concentrated on finishing off her food instead.


	43. Bounties for Everybody!

"Look, the Log Pose finally set!" Nami held up her arm, where a strange sphere of glass was attached at her wrist like some kind of bracelet. The strange red and white needle that was inside was pointing in a strange direction, wiggling a little as one end seemed to try to move to the floor.

"We can go to the next island, now," the navigator added.

Maria looked up from her book, blinking a couple times as she came out of the Prancing Pony and Frodo's introduction to Strider. "That thing's going to lead us to the next island? How?"

Nami glanced over at the brown-haired girl for a moment, blinking before realization crossed her face. "Oh, yeah -- you don't know how Log Poses work!"

"Not really, no...." Maria frowned as she looked across the table at Nami. "What does it do?"

"A Log Pose is something that can detect electromagnetic pulses from different islands, which make it so that compasses can't work here. As soon as it takes note of a certain magnetic field it hasn't come into contact with before, it points in that direction and leads you to the island. Then you have to wait a bit before the Log resets itself, and off you go to the next island."

"Whoa. That's pretty neat," Maria commented. "And does everybody on the Grand Line use one?"

"They kind of have to, considering how many islands there are and how they mess with the magnetic fields. Compasses work just fine in the four Blues, but bring one here, and it won't lead you anywhere."

"Huh."

"And all that's left now is to get our ship!" Luffy declared, doing a one-handed handstand over one of the beds. The Straw Hat clapped his feet together. "This is gonna be fun!"

"I can't wait to see the ship myself," Nami agreed, nodding. "Franky said no peeking until he's finished."

"What's the figurehead going to be this time?" Maria asked, cocking her head to one side curiously.

"Who knows?" Robin responded from nearby. "It could be a human skull."

"Robin, don't say stuff like that!" Nami barked at the archeologist. "There's no way that it could be something like that!"

"By the way," Kokoro spoke up from behind Maria. The old woman had come in that morning to pop by for a visit (and taste Sanji's cooking). Maria was starting to get so used to her presence, it was a wonder that Luffy hadn't tried to ask _her_ to join the crew yet.

"Do you guys know where that Log is pointing?" Kokoro asked, pointing at Nami's wrist with the hand that was holding her favorite type of wine. "Might come as a big surprise, since you aren't all ready."

"Actually, I don't have a clue," Nami admitted, pulling her wrist back so that she could have a closer look at the Log Pose.

"It kinda looks like it's pointing down," Maria commented, closing the book that was on the table in front of her. "Is it supposed to do that?"

Kokoro let out a cackle. "You bet it is! Where it's pointing is on the bottom of the ocean!"

"The bottom of the ocean?" Maria repeated, eyes widening in surprise. She looked up at the old woman. "Why?"

"There's a place down there called Fishman Island," Kokoro replied with a grin.

"Fishman...?" Maria frowned, not taking her eyes off the woman. "That's the place that you mentioned before, in Enies Lobby, right? When you were explaining about how you were a --"

"Yup!"

The cook started dancing around. "Whoa! You mean we're finally going to Fishman Island? Really??"

"Whoa, Sanji's acting weird!" Chopper exclaimed.

Maria glanced over in the direction of the reindeer, and saw exactly what the doctor meant: Sanji had a lovey-dovey look on his face and was blowing steam from his nose.

"Uh-oh," Maria commented.

Nami let out a sigh, causing the amnesiac to turn her head and look at the orange-haired navigator.

"Fishman Island, huh?" Nami had a strange look on her face...Maria wondered if Nami was worried about something that was ahead of them. "That's tricky."

"Yeah, I guess so," Luffy agreed, walking over. "Do you think it'll be tough after what happened in your village?"

 _Her village?_ Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing that, not exactly sure of what Luffy meant.

"They were pirates," Zoro spoke up from where he was sitting against the wall. "Not all fishmen are going to give us trouble like that."

_What? They've run into fishmen before? What happened?_

Sanji started to dance around the room, his legs seeming to merge together into what looked like a long black noodle.

"See? Everybody knows that Fishman Island is awesome!" the cook exclaimed. "Even Zoro, and he's stupid!"

Maria frowned at Sanji's comment while Zoro sent Sanji an annoyed glare.

"Fishman Island is one of the most famous spots on the whole Grand Line! Beautiful mermaids leaping and diving in the water with their elegant tailfins! There you can frolic with the fish and make all your dreams come true!"

Maria looked at Sanji like he was insane and wondered if he was right in the head _at all._ Mermaids were an entirely different species -- there's no way that a human would be able to mate with them...was there?

Kokoro coughed, and the cook turned around to look at her. When the woman laughed, Sanji got _such_ a look on his face as his cigarette dropped from his mouth.

The blond teen was on his knees a second later, slamming a fist into the wooden floor. "Let me dream! I'm not hurting anyone!"

"Really?" Kokoro responded sharply while Maria burst out into laughter at Sanji's actions. "There's young mermaids, too!"

Maria calmed herself down, and her grin faded a little. "Don't tell him that! As soon as we get there, we'll never hear the end of it!"

Kokoro chuckled, then turned to look at Nami and Luffy, who was now sitting on the floor. "The thing is, though, just because it's a nice place, that doesn't mean it's easy for people to get there!"

"I figured that that would be the case, since it's an underwater island," Robin commented from where she sat nearby.

"Eh," Luffy waved the comment off. "We'll figure it out on the way."

"Maybe there's someone who knows how to get down there," Maria suggested. "There's got to be people who've been down there, right?"

"On the way is a problem, too." Kokoro pulled a newspaper out from under her jacket and dropped it on the table. "Take a look at today's paper, and you'll understand."

"Huh?" Maria blinked a couple times in confusion as Nami picked up the newspaper from the table.

"What's this?" Nami frowned as she read an article on the front page. "Fourteen ships have disappeared this month alone...all in the same place?" Nami looked up from the newspaper and over at Kokoro, Maria doing the same.

"They call that patch of sea the Florian Triangle," Kokoro explained grimly.

"Florian Triangle?" Maria repeated, frowning in confusion. Something itched at the back of her mind, but it didn't fully come forward with anything, fading instead into the background of her mind.

"You won't be making it to Fishman Island until after you sail through there. Every year, over one hundred ships go missing in there, and no one has a clue as to why. What's spooky is that they show up later totally empty without any crew in sight. Other people say that they've found ghost ships, crews of dead men wandering the ocean, lost in a haze."

Maria blinked a couple times. "Ghost ships? Like, the floating, see-through spirits of people ghost ships?"

"Or zombies?" Chopper added in a squeak, an alarmed look crossing his face. "Scary!"

Maria frowned upon hearing the reindeer's exclamation. "Zombies...?"

"The walking undead," Zoro supplied flatly from his seat against the wall. From where Maria was sitting, it looked like the swordsman was a little uneasy.

The amnesiac got a picture of a man with green skin, moaning something about brains. She gave a shudder. "Okay, I did not need _that_ in my head."

"Hanging out with a bunch of skeletons sounds cool!" Luffy declared from where he sat on the floor.

"Hanging out?" Zoro repeated. "That's some imagination you've got."

Maria nodded in agreement. "The ghost thing I might get, but zombies? I think you'd have a death wish if that happened."

"And what makes you think ghosts are any better?" Zoro asked, looking over at the amnesiac.

"There are Pokemon that are considered Ghosts. I've made friends with a few of them," Maria responded.

"Ooo!" Luffy's excited grin became even more so, if that was even possible. "Do you think we could find some that might know your friends?"

"Maybe. I don't see why not."

"No way, no way!" Nami chanted, shaking her head as she looked at Kokoro in shock. "No ghost ships for us! We're not sailing through that place!" Nami sank down in her chair a little. "I mean, what really happens in that place?"

Kokoro gave a laugh, which, considering what they were talking about, actually made Maria shudder a little bit. "Who knows? After all, nobody comes out alive, and dead men tell no tales. I'd be careful. The water is dark; the fog is thick! And it swallows you up!"

Nami leapt out of her chair and scrambled backwards, grabbing Chopper and screaming loudly as the two tried to get as far away from Kokoro as possible.

Maria shifted in her seat a little, glancing behind her at the woman while a nervous expression crossed her face. "And how exactly do you know this?"

"Just rumors and legends, nothing more." Kokoro cackled. "Many a soul has been sacrificed to that treacherous sea, so you'd better be darn ready before you even think of setting sail!"

"Although most people call abandoned ships ghost ships, they're often called treasure ships, too," Robin commented. "We're more likely to find a ship filled with riches than the undead."

"But it's probably going to stink horrendously," Maria commented, grabbing her nose and waving an imaginary smell away from her face. "Corpses are supposed to stink when they're rotting, right?"

"We'll just disinfect it before we take it onto the ship!" Nami responded, turning to look over at Maria with a greedy look on her face. "Let's hunt down those ghost ships!"

"All right!" Luffy agreed, jumping up with a large grin on his face. "Leave it to me!"

"Oh, no!" Chopper yelped. "But I don't wanna!" The reindeer was ignored.

"I'll stock up on plenty of food and water before we go, so even if we do get lost, we're fine," Sanji added brightly.

"You don't seem nervous about this," Maria noted, looking over at the cook.

"Robin-chan isn't nervous, and neither is Nami-swan. We're going to be just fine."

The amnesiac blinked a couple times. "Uh...if you say so."

"Treasure, huh?" Zoro muttered, frowning thoughtfully. "I wonder if they have swords?"

"Why?" Maria looked over at Zoro curiously. "Are you going to try sticking two up your boots now and turn it into Five Swords Style?"

Zoro's head turned sharply in Maria's direction, and he opened his mouth to answer, but he was interrupted by another voice.

"Hey, Pirate People!" Chimney's voice called out from behind the door leading into the living space.

"Straw Hat!" came Kiwi and Mozu's voices immediately after.

Luffy turned and looked at the door while Maria turned to look in that direction, as well, a befuddled expression on her face as the twins, the little girl, and the meowing rabbit thrust the doors open and collapsed onto their knees, panting heavily.

"Need something?" Luffy asked, cocking his head to one side out of curiosity.

"Franky wants to talk to you guys!" Mozu responded, looking up at the same time that Kiwi did. "He's got something big to show you!"

"It took them a long night, but they finished his ship of dreams!" Kiwi added.

"And boy, is it super cool!" Chimney declared, raising her own head.

Maria's eyebrows shot up. "You don't mean that he's done, do you?"

"That was really fast!" Luffy exclaimed, grinning eagerly.

"Of course," Mozu agreed. "That's what happens when you have the best shipwrights working around the clock."

"You'd better believe it!" Kiwi added.

"Well then, what are we waiting for?" Sanji asked. "Let's go!"

Maria quickly slipped out of her chair and scrambled for her bed, grabbing the bag that had the stargazing book and the journal inside it and dragging it down from her upper bunk. She was back by the table and _The Lord of the Rings_ in seconds.

"If we're going to see the ship, we're going to have to make sure that we've got everything we need, right?" Maria asked, looking around the room.

"We're not going to be able to leave right away, I don't think," Nami responded. "We have a lot of stuff that we're going to need moved over to the ship, and it isn't going to take one trip."

"Oh. Well...I still want to bring my books with me." Maria slipped one arm around the book on the table and held it tightly to her chest with both hands.

"Suit yourself." Nami shrugged.

"STRAW HAT!!!"

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard the familiar voice, and she looked over at the open door at the same time that Luffy did.

"WE'VE GOT BAD NEWS!!!" Zambei's voice came rocketing into the room, causing Maria took look around in confusion and concern.

"That isn't about the ship, is it?" Maria asked worriedly.

"Let's find out." Zoro started for the door, the rest of them following on the swordsman's heels -- and overtaking him as they left the Galley-La building.

"What happened?" Mozu asked as the group left the building.

Maria's eyes widened in surprise when she saw how many people had decided to come running. It looked like the entire Franky Family was right there on their doorstep!

"And why did all of you guys have to come in order to tell us?" Maria spoke up.

The group came to a stop, many members of the Franky Family -- including Zambei -- collapsing onto their knees and gasping for breath.

"To be honest, we just found out about this ourselves." Franky looked up at the group. "Have you seen the wanted posters?!"

"Wanted posters?" Luffy repeated from Maria's left.

"What do you mean?" Maria asked.

"You've got a huge bounty on your head, Straw Hat! They're gonna hunt you down for sure!"

Maria frowned in confusion, as did Luffy and the others.

"Actually, you've _all_ got bounties! The whole crew is wanted!"

"Took long enough," Sanji commented, grinning. "How much?"

"Not me, too!" Nami yelped in shock.

"I've got a price on my head?" Maria asked in amazement.

"No point in talking." Zambei pulled out a small stack of papers and tossed them onto the ground, causing the sheets to scatter. "Just look!"

Maria, Luffy, and the others quickly crowded around and looked down at the pages that Zambei had dropped.

"Wanted posters for all eight of you," Zambei explained. "Straw Hat Luffy, with a bounty of 300 million beris!"

Luffy gave a loud laugh and stood upright, thrusting his fists into the air. "All right! It went up!"

"That's a 200 million jump," Maria commented, scanning the picture of her captain. Luffy was grinning from ear to ear, holding up two fingers. She wondered where the picture was taken and how the Marines had managed to get a hold of it. "They must think you're pretty dangerous, right?"

"Yup!" Luffy grinned and laughed through his teeth.

"Pirate Hunter Roronoa Zoro, with a bounty of 120 million beris!"

"Heh."

Maria glanced back and forth between the serious expression Zoro had on his poster and the half-grin he was wearing now. He seemed to be pleased with his bounty.

"Cat Burglar Nami, with a bounty of 16 million beris."

Nami let out a yell of alarm.

Maria raised an eyebrow when she saw the smirk that was on Nami's face in the poster. It looked like she was enjoying herself, but....

"That was taken at the party a few days ago, wasn't it?" Maria commented, pointing at the picture and looking up at Nami. The navigator looked too terrified to respond.

"Cotton-Candy Lovin' Chopper, pet, with a bounty of 50 beris."

"50?!" Chopper repeated in a squeak.

"They think you're a pet?" Maria countered, frowning in confusion.

"Demon Child Nico Robin, with a bounty of 80 million beris."

"That looks like a pretty dangerous picture," Maria commented, looking at the picture on Robin's wanted poster. She was right in the middle of using one of her techniques in Enies Lobby, if the collapsed forms of the Marines on one side of the picture meant anything.

Robin gave a soft hum of approval.

"What is _that?"_ came Sanji's voice, clearly sounding like he was in disbelief. Maria looked up at him for a moment, then followed his gaze down to the posters in front of them.

"Black Leg Sanji. Attempt to take a photo failed. Bounty 77 million beris."

Maria snorted when she saw the picture. "I know that some people's drawings can be bad, but that's just ridiculous. It looks nothing like him! There's no way his lips are that fat."

Sanji sagged forward in what looked like disappointment, while Nami collapsed onto her knees and put her head in her hands.

"Hey, look!" Luffy was back in a crouch, pointing at something in the pile of posters. "Maria and Sogeking have ones, too!"

"Hmmm?" Maria turned her gaze away from Sanji's poster and followed Luffy's finger to two posters that had somehow managed to land right next to each other.

"User of the Staff Staff Fruit, Model: Magician: Fire Staff Maria, with a bounty of 35 million beris," Zambei stated, tapping Maria's poster.

The amnesiac looked down at her own wanted poster, and her eyes widened.

"How did they manage to get this when we were in the middle of the _battle_?" Maria asked, motioning to the picture: Maria was in mid-spin, a snarling expression on her face and her staff in her hands. Both the staff and the area behind Maria were covered in fire.

"Do the Marines have hidden cameras or something?" Maria insisted. "I mean, it's a cool picture and all, but...how?"

Zambei shrugged. "Don't ask me."

"Hey, it looks like they've decided on your Devil Fruit, too," Robin commented. "Staff Staff: Model Magician, huh? That is an interesting name."

"A-anyway, I know this is big news for you guys and all, and I know there's a lot of pirate stuff that you want to talk about, but hold on a sec, okay? Cause I've got a favor I want to ask of you guys! Take a look at this!"

Maria looked up from Sogeking's wanted poster (30 million beri), and up at what it was that Zambei had just pulled out.

"It's Franky," Luffy noted, amazed.

"Cyborg Franky, with a bounty of 44 million beris!" Zambei sounded -- and looked -- panicked.

"This is awful!" Kiwi exclaimed. "Big Bro's wanted by the World Government!"

"What are we gonna do now?" Mozu asked.

"Well, that's the question," Zambei agreed. "I was happy when I found out we didn't have bounties, but then this had to happen!"

Maria frowned slightly in confusion, then looked around at the others. "Wasn't he kinda wanted for something anyway? I mean, he burned something right in front of Span-dumb's eyes, and that guy didn't seem to be very happy about it."

"Everybody in Water 7 knows our bro, and if he gets arrested again, I don't think we'd have the power to save him like last time!" Zambei gave Luffy a pleading look. "But I'm sure he's worried about us, too. Knowing him, he probably wouldn't leave the island no matter how much we begged him. That's why we came to you. We have no other choice."

Maria blinked a couple times, wondering what exactly it was that Zambei was getting at.

"We're beggin' ya here, Straw Hat! Even if he fights back, ya have to take him out to see with you. Come on! His parents were pirates! It's in his blood!"

Maria looked at Zambei with an expression of surprise. _Franky's parents were pirates? Then how did he end up here on Water 7?_

The amnesiac looked over at Luffy, who had a frowning expression on his face. "What are we going to do?"

Luffy frowned, seemingly considering the situation. However, he said nothing.

"Please, Straw Hat! All we want is what's best for our bro!" one of the other Franky Family members called out.

"Please, Straw Hat! You've gotta help him!" All of the Franky Family members bowed at once.

"What are we going to do about this?" Maria repeated quietly to herself, wondering how exactly it was that they were going to work with Franky and his new bounty...as well as his allies' request.

Luffy shifted, and Maria's gaze moved, watching as he captain moved up to his feet. She quickly followed suit, shifting her grip on the bag of books hanging from her arm and keeping _The Lord of the Rings_ close to her chest.

Luffy glanced over at Maria for a moment, and, seeming to take note of her worried expression, gave her a grin before turning to look at the Franky Family. "Come on, you guys, you don't have to beg. I've already decided that I'm gonna make him my shipwright."

Maria's eyes widened in surprise while the Franky Family looked up at Straw Hat in confusion. "What? Really?"

"Yup! Shishishishishi!"

"Does that mean the rest of you are okay with that, too?" Zambei asked, looking around at the others.

Maria glanced around herself at the rest of her crewmembers, gauging their reactions. Other than Sanji, Chopper, and Nami, who were in shock over their bounties for one reason or another, they others looked like they were in agreement.

"The others" being only two other members of the crew.

"Of course," Robin stated evenly.

"Well, there you have it," Zoro commented, smirking.

Maria blinked a couple times before looking back at Luffy and stating, "Besides, you're gonna need a shipwright who knows the ship like the back of his hand, right?"

Luffy's smirk simply got wider, and Maria found that she didn't need an answer beyond that.

Zambei let out a cry of relief. "Thank you!" He quickly got to his feet and turned around to look at the rest of the Franky Family. "Now that they've agreed, you know what we've gotta do! Let's move!"

"What?" Maria asked in confusion. "Move where?"

"YEAH!" The Franky Family quickly scrambled to their feet and started back across the lawn towards the gates that led into Water 7.

"But wait -- where are you going?" Kiwi called out.

"Yeah, Scrap Island is that way, remember?" Mozu added, pointing to her right.

Zambei paused and glanced back at the group in front of the Galley-La HQ. "I can't tell you. I'm sorry, but we have some very dirty business to do. You're better off not knowing."

"Huh? Dirty business?" Maria frowned. "What's that supposed to mean?"

"Mozu, Kiwi -- thank you for all you've done." Zambei turned around and started after the other members of the Franky Family.

"What was that all about?" Maria asked, frowning as the Franky Family members left.

"I...I don't know." Mozu frowned in confusion. "It's not like our bros to keep something secret."

"Something's up," Kiwi agreed.

"We'll probably figure out what they're up to later," Zoro commented. "We've got a ship to see, right?"

"Right!" Luffy agreed. "Let's go!"


	44. A New Ship and...A New Crewmember?

"All right, then. Just to make sure, we're all on the same page about Usopp, right?"

Maria looked up when she heard Zoro ask his question, pausing in stuffing her books and the journal into the orange satchel that Robin had gotten for her when she was out furniture shopping with Nami. The others paused, as well -- or simply lay dejectedly on the floor, as was the case with Chopper. It was obvious that he wasn't too happy about the bounty he had on his head, but Maria couldn't help but wonder if it was because of the "pet" moniker that had been added to his name.

Luffy threw his large brown backpack over his shoulder and got up to his feet, glancing over at Zoro and giving a nod. "Yeah."

"This is about doing what's right," Zoro continued.

"I know."

Maria gained a slightly nervous expression, but she said nothing and instead closed up her satchel and got to her feet, throwing the strap over one shoulder. _Man, these books are heavy. I won't have to carry them with me all the time, though._

The amnesiac's thoughts quickly turned to the night before, however, and what had happened when Sanji had broken the news to them.

"Let's move," Luffy commented, glancing over at the others and shaking Maria out of her thoughts. "We've been depressed for long enough."

"Shut up!" Sanji suddenly burst out of his depressed, silent mood, startling Maria when he suddenly popped up behind their captain. "Why is mine the only one with a drawing?!"

"Who cares about the picture?" Luffy responded. "You've got a bounty!"

That didn't seem to do much for Sanji.

"Who is this, huh?!" Sanji jabbed at his wanted poster with an angry finger. "Cause it's not me!"

Maria shifted her grip on the satchel's strap, wondering if it was a good idea that she had taken her own poster and slipped it into the astronomy book that she had yet to read. If Sanji saw it, was it going to send him into a fit later about how the amnesiac was so lucky to have an actual picture on her wanted poster? Because his complaining about it was starting to get old.

"I thought it was a photo until you said something," Zoro commented from where he was standing by the door.

Sanji instantly rushed over to the swordsman while Maria snorted in amusement, the cook babbling something in an incoherent manner.

"Who has the handsome face again?" Zoro asked, raising an eyebrow.

That made Maria snort again. Sure, she felt bad for Sanji because of his photo, but she liked this teasing game that was going on. She got the feeling that they were going to be able to do this a lot more often in the future.

Sanji collapsed onto the floor, moaning, "All the women in the world are going to laugh at me!"

"If you keep acting like that, you definitely are!" Maria agreed, smirking. "Come on -- you have to prove them wrong by surprising them with how you really look!"

Sanji lifted his head from the floor, sniffling. "You think so, Maria-san?"

Zoro shot the amnesiac a curious frown.

"Well, it kinda depends on how your heart looks to them," Maria responded, ignoring Zoro's gaze. "If you, say, tell them that the artist drew you this way out of spite for your looks, then they may look at you in a different light."

Zoro committed a facepalm while Sanji leapt to his feet, a delighted look appearing on his face. "You're right! Thank you, Maria-san!"

"That settles you, but what about me?" Nami demanded, looking at her own poster. "That guy lied to me! He said he was a reporter for the local paper! Having a bounty kinda stinks...but on the upside, the picture turned out pretty cute."

"The bounty isn't as much as Sanji's or mine," Maria pointed out. "I think you've got the second-smallest bounty on the crew, so you're not going to be the one that they're going to try and hunt down, right?"

"Maybe...but there are some small-time bounty-hunters who would look at me like I was fair game." Nami sighed.

"I fought like a true man back there! I'm a pirate just like all the rest of you!"

Maria turned her head when she heard Chopper wailing, and caught sight of the little reindeer waving his own poster in front of Luffy, who was simply standing there with a smile on his face.

"And what do they mean by pet?! I'm a doctor, darn it! And I'm--"

"Well, try harder, then!" Luffy interrupted, grinning.

Chopper slouched.

"Hurry up, Straw Hat! What are you doing in there?"

Maria's head turned when she heard the voice of one of the twins. Luffy glanced back at the door, as well, then he turned and walked out. The others quickly followed after him, Chopper and Sanji scrambling in order to get their things together.

"Don't you want to see your ship?" Kiwi asked as Maria and the others stepped out of the building and onto the lawn. Kiwi, Mozu, Kokoro, Chimney, and the meowing rabbit were all standing together, looking like they had been waiting for the Straw Hats to come out of the building.

"You don't want to keep our big bro waiting," Kiwi added.

"I know, I know," Luffy responded as the group stepped out into the sunshine. He glanced back at the others. "Well, I hope we're not forgetting anything. Once we get our new ship, we're out of here."

"I've got everything I need," Maria commented as she and Robin, with a purple satchel over her shoulder, walked out of the building. "Or, everything I have, anyway."

"Oh, right!" Nami turned and looked over at Maria. "We didn't go shopping to get you any new clothes! We're going to have to do that when we get to the next island."

Maria was a little thrown off by the navigator's suggestion. "Clothes? But...I like these." She motioned to her orange jacket, red shirt, and jeans. "Why would I need other ones?"

"In case those get dirty and need to be washed, that's why," Nami responded matter-of-factly. She came to a stop on the lawn while the others filed out, looking at Maria expectantly. "How long have you been wearing those?"

"Uh...over a week, now. Why?"

"A week? I'm surprised that you haven't started to smell yet." Nami frowned curiously, then shook her head. "Whatever, we'll figure it out later. But at least I have something to keep an eye out for when we get to the next island." The navigator turned and started moving again, Maria following reluctantly after her.

"Pirate Lady! Amnesia Girl!" Chimney rushed over and grabbed the two by their wrists. "Can't you please stay a little longer?"

Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing the nickname, but she was even more surprised that Chimney had asked _her_ to stay. Maria hadn't really spent much time with her.

"Chimney," Nami murmured, smiling slightly, "I'm sorry. Thank you guys for everything, but we have to go."

Chimney gained a saddened expression when she heard that, and the child turned her eyes to Maria. "Please? Stay?"

"Uh..." Maria paused for a moment, considering what words she could say to the girl. "I would if I could, but I've got to get my memories back, and the best way for me to do that is to leave Water 7. If I could find another way to get my memories back without hunting them down myself, I would. But I can't."

Chimney's saddened expression increased, and she released her grip on the two girls' wrists, letting them rejoin the other pirates as they left the Galley-La HQ and started towards where Franky had been working on their new ship.

**Time Break**

"Big Bro!" Kiwi called

"We brought the Straw Hats!" Mozu added.

The twin women of the Franky Family had brought the group out to a portion of land covered completely over in the wrecks of what looked like ships. Or, rather, what used to be ships. It looked like a wooden junkheap, complete with rotting wood and torn sails that were no longer useable.

Maria, stepping over some of the rotting planks of what used to have been a deck, got the feeling that she had seen something like this before, but underwater instead of above it. She didn't know where _that_ feeling came from, however, only being able to remember one particular ship that had been partially sunk into a coral reef back among the lands that housed Pokemon.

"Big Bro! Where are you?" Kiwi and Mozu called out together as they moved over the broken ships without breaking stride. It made the amnesiac wonder if they had been out here before.

"I see something big!" Luffy called out, coming to a stop and looking at something ahead of them.

Maria followed her captain's gaze and frowned slightly before grinning. "That tarp has to be covering something. But what's under it?"

"You think that's it?" Chopper asked, looking up at Luffy with a hopeful expression. Luffy looked down at the reindeer and grinned before taking off over the wooden piles, Chopper following close behind.

"Hey, Franky! We're ready for our ship, now!" Luffy called out as he and Chopper moved on ahead. Maria and the others scrambled after them, and the amnesiac thought she caught sight of someone seeming to rise out of the wood around the object hidden under the tarp.

"Oh, hey, Ice Pops!" Luffy and Chopper came to a stop next to the mayor of Water 7, the other members of the crew coming up seconds later. "What's up?"

"Good to see you," Iceberg commented as Maria and Nami came to a stop.

"Yeah, good to see you, too." Luffy started looking around. "Hey, where's Franky?"

"And what are you doing here?" Maria added.

"Unfortunately, Franky can't be here at the moment," Iceberg commented in reply, the white mouse he had befriended crawling up his back and onto his shoulder; Maria had almost forgotten that the mayor kept it on his person. "As for why I'm here, well, I was simply assisting Franky with his ship, which is complete. Shall we go look?"

As Iceberg turned around and moved over to the tarp, Luffy made a noise of agreement while Maria could feel excitement starting to build up within her.

The amnesiac was going to be seeing what was her new home as she traveled about the seas. Why wouldn't she have been excited?

"I think you're going to be impressed," Iceberg commented, glancing back at them as he came up to the tarp. "I was floored simply looking at the blueprints! This ship can sail any sea. It can take you to the end of the Grand Line, too!"

"Just let us see it already!" Luffy declared excitedly.

"Hurry!" Chopper piped up in agreement.

Maria's heartbeat started to pick up a little as she looked up at the tarp, almost mentally willing it to come down on its own.

"All right. I have a message Franky asked me to pass onto you, Straw Hat." Iceberg reached up and grasped the tarp with both hands before yanking it away from the ship. "He said that if you're going to be the king of the pirates someday...then your ship should be the king of beasts!"

As the tarp fell away from the ship, Maria's eyes became wider and wider in surprise and awe as she took in what was underneath the covering. Red and white paint decked the sides of the ship, which was also covered in bright yellow and looked like the friendliest ship that Maria had ever set eyes on. The figurehead even appeared friendly -- a bear-like face painted in yellow, with bright, orange-red, curved spikes leading up and out from all around its face.

"Whoa...." the amnesiac murmured, clearly at a loss for words.

"It's amazing!" Nami declared.

"You can say that again!" Sanji agreed.

"Uh huh!" Luffy clearly looked excited about their new ship -- Maria couldn't help but grin stupidly at the look on her captain's face.

"Oh, wow!" Chopper declared.

"How lovely," Robin commented.

"Oh, yeah," Zoro approved.

Maria gave a delighted hum as she looked at the ship. "Franky's got good taste in colors."

"It's super big and super cool!" Luffy declared. "It looks ready to break stuff!"

"And it's really free?" Chopper piped up.

"Well, that's the agreement that Franky gave us, right?" Maria asked, looking over at the two of them. When she saw the stars that had literally formed in Luffy's eyes, she decided against commenting on them...considering that Chopper had the same stars floating _around_ his face.

"It's gotta be twice as big as Merry."

Maria glanced back at Zoro. "She didn't have two masts, so I'd think that this one would have to be bigger, right?"

"Yeah, I guess so."

"Wait," Nami spoke up quickly. "Is the sail a sloop? It's huge!"

"Show me the kitchen, hurry! I wanna see!"

Maria didn't need to glance back at Sanji to know that the cook was excited about the ship that they were about to step into. She wanted to get a good look at its insides herself.

"I love the figurehead," Robin commented. "I wonder what kind of flower it's supposed to be?"

Maria glanced back at the archeologist, frowning slightly in confusion. "Flower?" She looked back up at the figurehead, cocking her head slightly to one side as she studied it for a moment. "Well, I guess that you could _say_ that it's a flower, but then why does it have a face like that? Doesn't look like any Pokemon I've ever seen."

"...I _think_ he intended it to be a lion," Iceberg spoke up.

"Ah. That makes more sense." Maria nodded in agreement with Iceberg's statement.

"Whoa! The inside is cool, too! And the deck has a lawn -- it's so soft!"

Maria's head shot up when she heard Luffy's yelling, and she caught sight of a rope ladder leading down from the deck...and Luffy and Chopper weren't on the ground next to them anymore.

"There's a _lawn_ on a ship?" Maria asked in confusion. "Now this I gotta see." She moved over to the ladder and, shifting her satchel around so that it was behind her instead of next to her, she climbed up the ladder and got up onto the deck of the ship itself.

"And there's a slide!" Chopper yelled as Maria pulled herself up onto the main deck of the ship. The amnesiac barely caught sight of the reindeer sliding down something before landing on his belly on the lawn...which Luffy was rolling over and flattening.

"Whoa, there _is_ a lawn!" Maria clambered up onto the deck of the ship and looked down at the grass beneath her feet in amazement while the other members of the crew moved up onto the ship after her.

"It might be nice to do some gardening up here," Robin commented, looking around the lawn and up at the upper deck at the back of the ship.

"Good place for a nap, too." Zoro looked around the lawn for a moment before moving up to the upper deck on the front of her ship.

"Quick -- where's the kitchen?!" Sanji threw open one of the doors of the back cabin and disappeared inside, leaving Maria smirking after him before she let her gaze wander around the deck for a moment.

"Hey, look -- there's a swing!" Maria instantly dove for the one of the two trees on the deck and planted herself in the swing that was attached to it. She slipped off her satchel and dropped it next to the trunk of the tree before starting to get the swing moving back and forth, gaining height in a gradual manner. "It feels like forever since I've been on a swing!"

"Maybe it has been," Robin agreed, coming over to stand nearby.

"Hey, look -- there's a lock on the fridge!" Sanji yelled from inside the open cabin door. "Just what I always wanted!"

Maria paused in her swinging and glanced back when she heard Sanji's voice. "A lock on the fridge?"

"Luffy has been known to take midnight snacks and eat half of our food supply," Robin explained lightly, smiling out of amusement. "Sanji has been wanting him to stop, but he only managed to come up with temporary solutions. Perhaps now, this one will be more permanent."

"And look at this oven! It's _huge!_ Aw, you're the best, Franky! You've made all my dreams come true!"

"Certainly sounds like he's happy about everything else," Maria commented. Robin hummed in agreement. "I wonder what our first meal here's gonna taste like when he's done in that kitchen."

"We'll have to see," Robin agreed.

"Hey, Ice Pops!"

Maria turned her head when she heard Luffy's voice, and she caught sight of him standing next to the rope ladder as Nami climbed up with her backpack over one shoulder. The navigator instantly dashed inside the open door that Sanji had left behind, leaving behind a blast of wind that ruffled Maria's brown hair a little. It made Maria wish she still had her red and orange baseball cap.

"This is cool and all," Luffy continued, "but where did Franky go? I have to thank him for this!"

"I'm sorry, but it would appear that he doesn't want to see you."

The smirk that had been on Maria's face at all the new things that were on the ship faded, and a frown quickly replaced her delighted expression. She got up from the swing -- grabbing her satchel along the way -- and moved over to stand next to Luffy.

"Straw Hat, you were going to invite Franky to be your shipwright, weren't you?" Iceberg called up.

"Yup!" Luffy called back, grinning. "Wouldn't have it any other way! Besides, this is his ship, after all. He has to come!"

"What better shipwright than one who knows the ins and outs of his own ship?" Maria piped up in agreement. Luffy glanced over at the amnesiac, and his grin widened.

"And that might be your problem."

Iceberg's voice caused Maria and Luffy to look back down at the mayor with expressions of confusion.

"You mean he doesn't want to join?" Luffy asked, frowning.

"Just the opposite. Rather, if you invite him, he wouldn't be able to refuse. That's why he's hiding right now."

"How does that make any sense?" Maria asked, her frown deepening.

"What I'm saying is that he wants to join you in his heart, and you can probably see that for yourself, looking at the love and care he put into this ship."

"Whoa, check it out! There's an aquarium in here, too!"

"Oh, wow, it's beautiful!"

Maria turned her head when she heard Chopper's and Nami's amazed voices. "An _aquarium?_ On a _ship?_ Isn't that a bit much?"

"And he's quite fond of your crew, so please don't blame yourself for this."

Maria turned her attention back to Iceberg, knowing something of what the mayor of Water 7 meant. She could remember herself and the other members of the Straw Hat pirate crew interacting with Franky with a fondness in her heart. There was no way that he would just leave them out to dry without looking back.

"He believes it's his duty to stay on this island," Iceberg continued. "His bond has become the chain that binds him."

"Yeah?" Luffy asked.

Below, Iceberg gave a nod. "Yes. Although, if you ask me, I think he's being needlessly stubborn over nothing. Still, that's how he feels. Trying to reason with him would be a waste of time. If you really want him to go with you, then your only choice is to use force."

 _Force?_ Maria mentally repeated. She bit her lower lip and looked at her captain expectantly, but Luffy wasn't taking his eyes off of Iceberg.

"Since he's not willing to break that chain, then you'll have to do it for him!"

"Force?" Luffy frowned, then glanced up in the direction of the figurehead. "After he was so nice to us.... Well, I guess I can give it a shot."

Maria frowned when she heard this. There was something about this that was all unusually familiar...even though she couldn't really put a finger on it.

Right then, the amnesiac got a blast of a headache, and she leaned over the deck railing, rubbing her head as blasts of color and sound moved through her head while she let out a groan through gritted teeth.

**Memory Break**

_"I've got bro's briefs!"_

_"Run with 'em! Don't look back!"_

_"GIVE 'EM BACK!! THOSE ARE THE ONLY PAIR I HAVE!!!!"_

_"Scatter!"_

_The Franky Family took off and ran as fast as their feet could carry them, away from an angry "big brother" who was missing some clothes in the nether region._

_And all the while, in the background, there was the sound of laughter. And not just anyone's laughter, either. This laughter was strangely familiar to Maria...._

**Memory Break**

Maria came back to herself, rubbing her head while Iceberg was calling up her name in alarm.

"I'm fine," Maria called back instinctively, rubbing her head. "This kinda thing happens all the time to me." She looked over at Luffy, who had a curious expression on his face. "You remember what Zambei said? About dirty business?"

"Uh...yeah? What about it?" Luffy asked, frowning.

"They meant it literally. They just stole Franky's... _undergarments._..and are leading him here with a city-wide game of keep-away."

A large grin crossed Luffy's face. "All right!" He jumped up onto the deck railing and started shifting his arms, looking like he was preparing to use them.

"What are you going to do?" Maria asked, looking up at her captain with a hesitant expression.

"I'm gonna go help. You go tell the others what's going on and have them brought out here so we can all meet up with Franky when he gets here, kay? Oh, and I may need some help, too."

"Uh, yeah, sure. I can do that." Maria gave a nod, then looked around the main deck for a moment while Luffy stretched his arms out far in front of him. With the sound of retracting rubber and a blast of wind, the captain of the Straw Hats was gone.

"You guys heard that, right?" Maria asked, looking back and forth between Zoro and Robin, who were still on deck.

Robin gave a slight smile. "Indeed. This is going to be fun."

"Are you sure your visions are telling the truth this time?" Zoro asked dryly.

Maria frowned at the swordsman and opened her mouth to reply, only for there to come a loud scream from many people just seconds before a large explosion went off somewhere in the city. When the amnesiac turned around, she just barely caught sight of a building falling somewhere in the backstreets.

"Is that enough of an answer?" Maria asked, pointing towards the city and looking back at Zoro.

The swordsman blinked a couple times, then scowled. "All right, fine. I'll go help."

"What's going on?"

"Yeah, we heard an explosion. Is it the Marines or something?"

Maria turned her head, and she caught sight of Nami, Chopper, and Sanji stepping out of the cabin.

"Nah, it was Franky apparently," Zoro replied, coming down onto the main deck.

"Franky?" Nami repeated in confusion. "What's he doing?"

"The Franky Family is playing keep-away with his undies in order to get him out here," Maria explained. "Luffy already left when I told him, and he said he could use some help."

"Well, anything to get him out here," Sanji commented. "I want to thank him for our new kitchen."

"I'm going, too!" Chopper added. The reindeer and the cook quickly dashed over to the deck railing and jumped down before running off into the city. Seconds later, Zoro himself jumped down and ran after them, leaving the three girls on main deck of the ship.

"How'd you figure out what they were doing?" Nami asked, looking over at Maria in amazement.

"Vision-thing," Maria replied, shrugging. "I saw the start of the chase and learned some things that I did _not_ need to know." The amnesiac shuddered. "And I'm not exactly looking forward to seeing him with his nether regions unclothed, either."

"Why?" Robin gave Maria an interested, amused look. "Have you not seen a man's 'nether regions' before?"

"No, definitely not, and something tells me I don't want to see _his._ " Maria bit her lower lip. "I'm lucky that that part of him was blocked in my vision, but I don't want to end up seeing it in person for...moral reasons, I guess."

Nami frowned at Maria, looking like she was trying to figure the amnesiac out. However, the navigator said nothing.

"We're going to have to do something while we're waiting for them though, right?" Maria asked. "I haven't seen the inside of the ship yet."

"Neither have I," Robin agreed. "Nami, could you give us a quick tour before Luffy and the others return with Franky?"

"Sure! But we should probably figure out who gets to sleep where in the girl's cabin first. Come on." She turned and dashed up a set of stairs to the second floor of the cabin before turning and opening up one of the cabin doors. "Come on -- you're probably going to want to put those books down before the others get back right?"

"Uh..." Maria shifted the orange satchel on her shoulder. "Yeah, that might be a good idea." She moved to climb the stairs after Nami, Robin following behind her as they stepped into the doorway that Nami had opened up.

Maria stopped a few feet into the room, allowing herself to get a good look around at the room that they were now in: rather girlish, with pinks and purples taking up the rug, furniture, and walls, and three beds with plain sheets that clearly had been left unclaimed. There was a small pile of blankets in one corner, neatly folded, that contained a multitude of colors, and three doors that, when Maria opened one, were revealed to lead into large closets.

"I've already claimed mine," Nami explained, motioning to the bed with the orange blanket over the top and what looked like a tangerine painted on one of the closet doors. "All that's left is for you two to find something."

Robin walked over to the pile of blankets and pulled out a deep, midnight purple, inspecting the fabric curiously before looking between the beds and Maria. "What do you think?"

"About the beds?" Maria looked back and forth between the three beds that were in the room: Nami's one being in the exact center of one wall with her closet on the other side. The amnesiac looked back at Robin and shrugged. "I don't exactly care where I end up sleeping. You can pick first, if you want."

Robin gave a soft smile, then did so, walking over to the bed closest to the door and spreading out the purple blanket over the sheets.

Maria gave a nod, then went over to the blankets herself and looked at the colors that remained: a deep blue, a dark brown, a bright neon green, a friendly yellow, a plain tan, a teal, and then a deep red. The amnesiac was quick to make her decision, grabbing the red and dragging it with her across the floor to the bed at the far end of the room, easily throwing the blanket over the white sheets and working at tucking it in at the sides before dropping her satchel on top of the finished bed.

"Well, that settles that, right?" Maria asked, turning to look at Nami and Robin. The two nodded in agreement. "Now, I heard something about an aquarium...?"

**Time Break -- Maria's POV**

Nami's whirlwind tour of the inside of the main cabin ended right when Luffy and Chopper returned via a Gum Gum Rocket, if Nami's mutterings about Luffy's recklessness was anything to go by. We were walking out of the galley right when the two of them crashlanded on the deck of the ship, Luffy grinning, and Chopper looking downright terrified as he held onto Franky's underwear between his teeth.

...wait, what? Oh, that's just gross. If I was in his situation, I'd go straight to the ocean and gargle fresh water every hour on the hour for a full week to get that out. Just yuck.

Luffy gave a laugh as he got up from the lawn -- which, surprisingly, was unmarked from his and Chopper's landing. My captain slipped Franky's underwear out of Chopper's mouth and bounded over to the side of the ship that was facing Water 7, motioning for us to follow after him.

"Come on! Franky's gonna be landing soon!"

"Landing?" I repeated in confusion as Nami and Robin moved over to stand on either side of their captain. "What do you mean?"

Chopper got to his feet, shaking his head for a moment. "The Franky Family fired Franky out of a cannon so that he could get over here faster. He should be arriving soon."

"A cannon? Is that even safe?"

"Franky's a cyborg!" Luffy responded, laughing. "He can handle it!"

_BOOM._

I heard the impact more than I felt it, considering that I was standing on a ship that was in the water and the noise came from somewhere that was probably on the land in front of us. Curious, I moved over to the deck railing in order to see what was going on...and I backpedaled twice as quickly.

You would, too, if you saw that Franky landed headfirst into the dirt -- luckily with his back facing towards us. I was not looking forward to him turning around. If he did, I was going to shut my eyes and slap my hands over my face so that I wouldn't be forced to look at him.

"Franky's naked! Franky's naked!" Chimney's chanting voice echoed up from the island below, followed by Kokoro's cackling. Apparently, _they_ had no qualms about seeing a man's nether regions, but I think that Chimney was just too naive to actually realize what she was looking at.

I think. I don't know.

"Well, this certainly took an..interesting turn," Iceberg commented. I could see from the deck of the new ship that he was standing with Paulie, Tilestone, Yokazuna, and Lulu, all of whom were looking at Franky without any sort of hesitance. Well, they were men -- they could look at that sort of thing.

"Franky!" Luffy raised the pair of underwear above his head as he jumped up onto the deck railing.

Uh oh. Now would be the best time for me to prudently turn away so that I wouldn't have to see Franky as he turned around to look up at us.

"Thanks! The ship is great!" Luffy yelled out. "Like you said, it's the best! We'll take good care of it."

"Yeah," Franky called back. "I had fun with you guys! Have a safe trip."

"Oh, and I hate to break it to you, but if you want your undies back, then you're gonna have to join our crew!"

There it was. The ultimatum. I spared a glance over at Luffy and saw that he was grinning hugely, like he'd just found some big catch and was reeling it in.

Something told me that was going to hold true in this case.


	45. We're Setting Sail!

**Maria's POV**

"Give me back my briefs, Straw Hat." I could hear Franky's footsteps against the wood that was scattered around Scrap Heap Island, but I didn't turn around to look at him. I had morals, and looking at a man when he had nothing to clothe his nether regions was high on the "Do Not See" list.

"Sure. Join my crew." Luffy's answer was straightforward enough.

"What are you, stupid? I'm not gonna be a pirate."

Franky, on the other hand....

"You know, you can keep those briefs, bro."

Huh? Is he serious? I was tempted to turn around and look to see if he had an extra pair on him, but then I remembered what I had seen before telling Luffy about what was going on...and I decided to grit my teeth and stay staring out to sea rather than back at the island.

"Standing before the waves

Naked and proud!

You wouldn't ask a lion to put on underwear

So why a man?"

Was that supposed to be some kind of poem that Franky spoke? Aw, nevermind. Something tells me you can never tell with a guy like him.

"I was a fool!"

"Luffy?" I spared a glance over at my pirate captain, luckily managing to keep Franky out of my sight.

My pirate captain stumbled back off his perch, shock clear on his face. "His determination is too great! A true man! A hero!"

"What in Chaos' name are you talking about?" I demanded, frowning at him. It felt good to hear that coming out of my mouth rather than whatever else other people tended to say around here.

"He's obviously just a pervert!" Nami snapped, coming up from behind and smacking Luffy's head.

"It might get a little rough...but shall I lend a hand?"

I looked to my left, and caught sight of Robin looking over at Luffy and Nami, a strange, knowing smirk appearing on her face.

"Actually, Ice Pops said before," Luffy commented, getting up from where Nami's slap had caused him to fall on the lawn. "To get Franky to join, we're gonna have to use force to get our way."

I nodded. "Yeah, that's right."

"But what are you planning?" Nami asked, looking over at Robin curiously. I had to admit, I was curious myself.

Robin turned to face Scrap Heap Island and moved her arms up into the stance she had taken back at Enies Lobby, right before unleashing multiple arms from out of nowhere. I learned recently that her Devil Fruit ability -- the Flower Flower Fruit -- allowed her to sprout her limbs wherever she wanted them to. And not just arms and hands, either -- Robin could do it with her legs, eyes, and ears, too.

"Let's try Dos Fluer," Robin stated as a dark aura seemed to come over her. "Grab."

Grab? Just what was she grabbing?

I got my answer when Franky let out a loud howl as Robin clenched her fists.

"Robin! What did you do?!" Nami dashed over to the deck railing and looked out while Franky continued yelling.

"Man! Ow!" Luffy yelped.

"You're gonna crush them, Robin!" Chopper wailed. "Don't do it!"

Them? What are they -- wait a second.

It didn't take too long for some knowledge to start seeping in through the cracks in my mind -- just some basic human anatomy, not who or where I learned it from.

I realized just why it was that Franky was screaming and why Chopper was saying "crush _them."_

"Seriously?" I asked, glancing over at the archeologist. "Did you seriously have to go and do that?"

Robin offered me a sly smile in return, but said nothing.

"She'll...tear 'em off!" Mozu cried out in alarm.

"She's gonna crush 'em to bits!" Kiwi agreed.

"Like little...oranges!" the two of them yelled together.

"They're called tangerines!" Franky hollered back.

And why would he care?

"I hope you're not going to do that," I commented, looking over at Robin with an uneasy expression. "And _ow?_ People here in Water 7 probably are _really_ going to look at you like you're a demon now, you know that?"

"Luffy said that we could use force," Robin commented calmly, not taking her eyes off the scene in front of her. "I'm simply following orders."

"Robin!" Luffy barked. "I still want him to be a man when he joins us!"

Chopper cried from where he was on the deck railing next to me, pulling down on his pink hat. "Just looking at him hurts!"

"Everyone knows that pirates won't give up on treasure once they've set their sights on it," Robin commented. "And since we have this one in our palm, so to speak, I won't let go without a fight."

I bit my lower lip when I heard that. "Treasure is one thing, a person is another."

"Come on, I already told you!" Franky called out to us. He let out a yelp, and I could have sworn that I heard an electric shock go off somewhere. "I can't leave this island, even if I wanted to."

"That must be the chain that Iceberg mentioned before," I commented.

Another yelp and a zap. "I appreciate the offer -- really. It just ain't in the cards for me. Sailing the seas would be great an' all...but there's still a lot of stuff that I have left to take care of here. That's why...I gave the ship to you."

I spared a glance back at Franky, prepared to shut my eyes if I caught sight of his pervertedness. I just turned around abruptly instead; the shipwright's rear end was high in the air, but he was lying on his stomach, so I couldn't see the more personal part of his nether regions. And I didn't want to get any closer to seeing them.

"I quit bein' a shipwright a long time ago -- I'm not goin' back! This is the last ship I'm buildin' for the rest of my life! I had one goal as a shipwright, and now I've fulfilled it. I've made my ship of dreams!"

"That's a lie, Franky."

Huh? What did Iceberg mean by that?

"You can say what you like, but I know the truth," the mayor of Water 7 continued. "This isn't the ship of dreams that you talked about before."

What? What in the world did Iceberg mean by that? Not Franky's ship of dreams?

"Yeah? Well, my dream is different, now." Franky was panting, but he was able to speak without going into the Key of High C. And yet...Robin was still in that exact same pose as she was when she first got him screaming.

Well, dreams can change, I guess. But how was Franky able to still move?

"Your dream? That isn't what this is about at all. You're not on this island because of something you have to accomplish. You're here...because of guilt."

My blood froze up a little when I heard that. "Guilt?"

"Ever since that day that Tom was taken away by the government, you've blamed yourself for what happened. It's obvious."

"Tom...that was the name of their mentor, right?" I asked, looking around at the other crew members curiously.

"Correct, Maria," Robin replied. "It's said that he was the one who built the previous Pirate King's ship, and he was executed for that."

"Just because he _built_ it?" I gawked.

"Well, anyone who is in association with pirates is usually put to death or put in jail as a result of assisting them. It's no different if you build a ship for them."

I scowled and folded my arms across my chest. "Oh, please. Tom was just doing his job; I doubt that that was enough to get him killed."

"You'd be surprised at what the Marines have said is or isn't a crime punishable by death," Robin replied knowingly.

That brought back memories of Enies Lobby, and I decided against saying anything more on the subject.

"But even before Tom had left this island, he had already forgiven you," Iceberg continued. "He had shown you a new path."

A new path? I blinked a couple times out of confusion when I heard that.

"For years, you've taken punks from the undercity streets under your wing. You've taught them to be dismantlers, you've worked as bounty hunters, and you've protected this island from attacking pirates. To atone for your sins. To look after the city that Tom loved...and was forced to leave behind. Although...I don't imagine most people saw it that way."

Protected the city...atonement for his sins? What's Iceberg talking about? Did Franky do something in the past that made him what he is today? What happened?

"Of course not...because that's not what I was doing! Not at all!" Franky denied. He let out a yelp as another zap of electricity went through the air.

"Where's the electricity coming from?" I asked, glancing over at the others. Luffy and Chopper were convulsing a little where they stood, looking like they were the ones who were in pain. Nami simply looked uneasy, and Robin....

"From Franky," Robin answered simply.

Robin was being a stone-cold wall to everything that was happening. And I still wasn't turning around to see what was going on below us.

"You loved ship building, and you gave it up," Iceberg commented. "Suppressed your dream for years and years. Are you going to do that for the rest of your life? Tom has already forgiven you. _I've_ already forgiven you. Nothing you do will change that. This has gone on long enough. It's time for you to forgive _yourself_ , Franky."

In the silence that followed, I found my mind wandering, wondering what exactly it was that Franky had done in the past that would warrant a need for forgiveness -- both from himself and from others. I didn't get a vision for that, however. Maybe that was just a one-time thing -- because of what was going on at Enies Lobby?

"Live...and follow the dream you've buried for so long," Iceberg finished.

"Come on...say you wanna come with us already so that Luffy can give you your underwear back," I muttered, running a hand through my hair.

If Franky was going to say something, it didn't really happen, because there suddenly came a loud explosion from below.

"What was that?" I asked, tempted to spare a glance back but nervous at the idea of what I might find.

"It looks like a bag was just shot onto Scrap Heap Island," Nami commented, frowning.

"It's luggage for your trip, bro!"

I know that voice...

"Zambei?" I asked, curious.

Other, unfamiliar voices quickly followed.

"Move it, we're coming through!"

"It's the Franky Family!"

"We love you, big bro!"

"Big Bro!" Zambei called out again. "Forgive us -- we didn't really want to trick you. We're sorry -- really!"

"We're sorry!" came a unanimous repeat from the other members.

I think. I wasn't about to turn around in order to look and risk catching sight of Franky.

"We'll take any punishment you throw at us," Zambei added. "We're not smart like you, but we've thought long and hard about this, and even we know that it's the only way!"

"Only way, huh?" Franky repeated. "You guys aren't making any sense to me! You're thinking that I'm better off without my only pair of briefs? Huh? Think I'll be better off with a bunch of pirates? Well, I don't care what you think! This is my life! And I decide what's best for me!"

"Well, at this point, I think you're being too stubborn for your own good to see what _is_ best for you," I commented, frowning. "Just say you're going so that you can get up here already and put your underwear on!"

"I'm the boss, damnit! Do you think I'd be happy, living out the life that my underlings planned for me? So you thought long and hard, huh? If you'd thought long and hard about this, you wouldn't have done it in the first place!"

"Is that what you think about all this?" I countered, but my voice wasn't loud enough to carry down to Franky's ears.

"Hey, I know we're a pain, but... is it wrong for us to worry about you -- even a little? You turned our lives around -- we just want what's best for you! We just want our big bro to be happy! Can't you see?!"

I heard someone collapse, and then Franky started crying. Loudly.

"Hey, stop!" Luffy yelped uneasily. "You're going too far. Come on! He's gonna be a woman!"

"Can't you hear him crying?!" Chopper demanded.

I blinked a couple times when I heard the boys' exclamations, and I looked over at Robin, who was still standing like she had when she had initiated the move. Uh oh.

"Uh Robin...?" I asked hesitantly. I looked over at the archeologist, but then my eyes widened when I saw her relax her arms and lean against the deck railing like I was...and Franky was still crying out.

Kiwi and Mozu responded instantly, crying out like they had before when Franky had started wailing. Although, this time, they said "fat grapes" instead of oranges.

Seriously? Comparing a man's nether regions to fruits will only make me _not_ want to eat fruit ever again. I wanted to tell them to stop it, but Franky interrupted me first.

"I thought they were tangerines! Damnit, Robin! Stop it! You'll pay for this!"

That set off Kiwi and Mozu a _third_ time, and they used an _apple_ instead.

"That's more like it!" Franky managed.

"If you keep going like this, they're going to go through every single fruit that I happen to like eating," I hissed to Robin. "And then I'll never be able to look at them the same way again!"

"Don't look at me; they'll figure it out," Robin replied calmly.

"Robin!" Luffy wailed. "You're -- wait. You're not...doing anything?"

Robin let out a hum of amusement as she closed her eyes and smiled a knowing smile. "I only did it the one time. He's just being a big baby." She looked over at the rest of us, blue eyes filled with humor. "How convenient. Now he has an excuse to cry all he wants."

"Seriously?" I piped up.

"He's faking it?" Nami asked in surprise. She looked back out at Franky and what was going on below, but I wasn't planning on turning around to look myself.

"It hurts so much!" Franky wailed. "I can't stop crying!"

"Big Bro!" came a unanimous wail from the Franky Family.

"I feel your pain, Bro!" Zambei called.

"You ain't got a clue as to how this feels," Franky replied.

"Big Bro!" Kiwi and Mozu called out, their voices filling with pain themselves. Other wails soon followed after their voices.

"These guys sure have a deep bond with Franky," I commented, looking around at the crew members on deck.

"Yup," Luffy agreed.

"You guys...are you really gonna be okay without me?" Franky asked from below.

"You taught us how to work together!" Zambei called back. "We'll make you proud for as long as we live! Water 7 will never forget your name!"

"Yeah, we'll be fine!" another member added. "Don't cry! We'll be fine!"

"No matter how far away you are," Zambei continued, "you'll always be our boss! And you'll alway be our bro!"

"YEAH!" came a unanimous yell of agreement.

I felt something tighten in my chest, and something told me that this had happened in other times and other situations for me. I instantly thought back to all the Pokemon that I had managed to befriend...and I couldn't help but wonder where they were or what it was that they were dong.

"I can't stop," Franky whimpered.

"MOVE IT!!!"

My head shot up upon hearing the two familiar voices, and I turned around and looked up in order to see where the voices were coming from. I only just caught sight of the figures of Zoro and Sanji jumping down from the top of the broken stairs and landing on Scrap Heap Island below...where Franky was sitting deep enough in wooden scraps that I couldn't see his rear end, thankfully.

"Hey -- what's up?" Luffy asked, watching Sanji and Zoro run towards us.

"We've got bad news, Captain!" Sanji called back.

"That stupid grandpa of yours came back for us, Luffy!" Zoro added. "He's gotta bunch of Marines on the other side of the island, getting ready to hunt us down and take us out!"

"Uh oh," I stated in a panicked tone.

"Huh?" Luffy asked in confusion. "Why? I thought he said he was leaving!"

"We don't have time to figure that out!" Sanji barked back. "Just set sail!" He turned his head as he passed by Franky and added, "Damnit, Franky! Put your underwear on! Geez!"

I saw Franky starting to get up and move, and I turned around again before he could turn around to look at the ship.

"Here, catch!" I watched out of the corner of my eye as Luffy tossed Franky's underwear down to the shipwright below. "Well, come on! Get on my ship! Captain's orders."

"Heh. Your ship already, huh?" Franky responded. I could tell from his voice that he was probably smirking. "An amateur like you will probably sink her in less than a week! Ya got the finest vessel on the sea, and no shipwright?"

He gave a short laugh, and I felt a smirk start to work its way onto my own face. It sounded like Franky was about to accept Luffy's offer.

"Really pity -- for the ship, I mean. I gotta say, you don't really leave me much choice. I've gotta take care of my masterpiece, after all. Set sail! I'm joining the crew!"

"Yeah! We got us a shipwright!"

"All right!" Chopper exclaimed.

Sanji and Zoro clambered up onto the deck, smirking as they turned and looked back at Franky. I still didn't know if Franky had his underwear on or not, so I decided to wait until he got onto the ship in order to spare a glance. I meant no disrespect, and I hope he knew that...if not, I could always just tell him, I guess.

I shifted and moved away from the deck railing a little. "So, now what?"

"When Franky gets on, we're leaving," Zoro replied simply.

"When Franky gets his briefs on and gets up here, you mean," Sanji replied, glancing over the deck railing and at the island below. "And then we've got your grandpa to worry about, Luffy."

"Yeah...." Luffy frowned and put a hand on top of his straw hat. "He promised he'd leave us alone, though...."

"Does he normally keep promises like that?" I asked, curious.

Luffy's frown deepened. "When it comes to beating me up, yeah. But he's never promised to leave me alone before, so...."

I let out a sigh that made me sound like I was exhausted. "Well, this is going to be interesting."


	46. Forgiven Crew Member

**3rd POV**

"Set sail!" Luffy called out as the crew lowered the main sail. The fabric instantly caught hold of a gust of passing wind and started to move away from the coast.

Maria, who was standing next to the deck railing again, watched the city of Water 7 as the ship drifted away from the shore. She could hear the townspeople cheering them on as they took off, and the amnesiac could still see Paulie standing with Iceberg.

"Bye, Paulie!" Maria called out, looking down at the blond shipwright. "Thanks for everything!"

Paulie looked up at Maria and, after a moment, looked down at the ground beneath his feet and shook his head. Maria chuckled at his reaction, but the pang in her heart that she felt for leaving made her smile bittersweet.

"So, that's it?" Nami demanded. "We're leaving?"

"Luffy!" Chopper whimpered from where he was clinging to the deck railing on the upper deck.

Maria looked up at the reindeer and caught sight of the disappointed expression on his face before letting her gaze move to Luffy. He had sat down on the bench that circled the main mast, putting his hands behind his head and looking like he wasn't planning on moving.

"Last call, Straw Hat," Franky commented from the other side of the deck. "Are you sure? It feels like we're still missing someone."

Maria's eyes widened when Franky said that, and she instantly remembered why it was that Nami and Chopper were so upset -- well, Chopper more than Nami, at any rate.

"Nah, it's okay," Luffy responded. "We've waited long enough. He never even bothered to show up. We went over this back at Galley-La. Everyone agreed on what to do."

Maria nodded slightly in agreement, thinking back to what had happened the night before, after Sanji's delicious dinner....

**Memory Break**

"So Usopp's really gonna come back?!" Luffy demanded, looking over at Sanji.

"Uh huh." The cook removed the cigarette from his mouth, releasing a puff of smoke as he did so. "I saw him on the coast. He was practicing his 'big return' speech."

Maria looked up from the journal Chopper had given her, pausing mid-stroke on a letter H. "Usopp..." She thought back to her interactions with the sniper, wondering where he was and what he was doing right at that second.

"That's great news!" Luffy exclaimed, relief appearing on his face. "Man, I was so worried! Let's go get him right now!"

"Yeah!" Chopper agreed, jumping up from the floor.

"Well, that's Usopp for ya," Nami commented from where she was standing next to Luffy. "Should've known."

Luffy laughed, then turned and started for the door, chanting, "We're gonna get our crew back!"

The doctor followed on his heels, laughing in agreement.

"All of you, hold on a second!"

Maria blinked a couple times as Luffy came to a stop, his hand on the door handle. The amnesiac's gaze moved over to Zoro, who was standing with his arms folded across his chest and an angry look on his face.

"I understand that you want to see him again, but I won't allow you to bring him back here," Zoro stated in an annoyed tone.

"Huh?" Maria asked in confusion, looking over at the swordsman from where she was sitting at the table.

"Why not?" Luffy demanded.

"You can't kiss his ass and tell him you're happy to see him again, you know that," Zoro stated flatly while Maria flinched at his language. "Not after what happened."

"Zoro," Luffy muttered, frowning.

At the same time, Zoro's voice caused Maria to remember why it was that she had met the Straw Hats in the first place. The event seemed like forever ago, now, but it had only been a few days.

The amnesiac bit her lower lip at the memory of what had taken place that fateful night. _Could that be what Zoro was talking about?_

"Until he bows his head and apologizes for what he did, he can't come back!" the swordsman stated shortly.

"Zoro!" Chopper yelled angrily, jumping up and down as he continued yelling. Most of his angry rants, however, were muffled when Nami started speaking.

"Hey, I don't know what your problem is, but--"

"Shut up!" Zoro barked, causing Nami to stop moving towards him and the navigator to stop speaking.

Maria flinched back. Zoro was looking absolutely scary right at this point...but it seemed like he was making a point.

"It doesn't matter what you two were thinking when you started arguing," Zoro stated, walking towards Luffy as he pulled his sheathed, white sword out. "And it doesn't matter who was wrong or who was right, either."

Zoro came to a stop not too far away from Luffy; Maria turned in her seat so that she could watch the two of them with both her eyes rather than just out the corner of one. "When two men agree to have a duel with each other, no matter what the outcome is, _they_ _have to accept it._ "

Maria swallowed nervously as Luffy looked down at the rug on the wooden floor. She was right; it did have something to do with that fight the night she met them.

"And after he lost that duel, he left by his own accord," Zoro continued. He turned and looked at the rest of the Straw Hat crew. "You understand, don't you? He may be an idiot, but this man is still our captain."

He rapped Luffy on the head with the hilt of the sword in his hand, then yanked on one of Luffy's rubbery cheeks. "We're better off without a crew member who doesn't respect our captain when things get rough. A crew with no respect and a captain that doesn't demand it are just going to fall apart quickly."

 _Like a Pokemon team with no respect for its Trainer_ , Maria mentally noted, nodding slightly in agreement with Zoro's statement. The swordsman was making sense.

"Listen!" Zoro turned sharply to glare at Luffy. "I don't mind if you're easygoing most of the time. But right now, you've gotta man up! You can't let people walk all over you! Cause if you do that, then it's gonna be me who leaves this crew!"

Maria stiffened in alarm upon hearing the swordsman's declaration. "Zoro!"

"You're making this more complicated than it needs to be!" Nami piped up in agreement.

Zoro released his hold on Luffy's cheek, the rebound sending their captain to the floor. Maria shuddered; in the evening light, Zoro was starting to look rather creepy.

"Don't get me wrong; it's fine if he joins the crew again," Zoro commented as Luffy got to his feet. "And it's fine if you want him back. But, if he doesn't bow his head and apologize for what he did, and he pretends like nothing ever happened between the two of you, I won't forgive him and I won't stand for it!"

Maria gave another nod, gaining an understanding expression that had some nervous undertones. "Yeah, I can see where you're going with that. Letting something like this go could have major consequences on all of us."

Zoro gave a slight nod, glancing over at Maria. "In other words, we'll leave the island without him."

That got a gasp from Nami, Luffy, and Chopper, while Maria gave a slight frown at the swordsman's statement.

"Wait, a minute Zoro," the navigator quickly spoke up. "I agree that Usopp's the one at fault, not Luffy, but we can settle that with him after he joins up with us again."

Maria flinched as Zoro unsheathed the sword in his hands and slammed it, point-first, into the floor.

"So the fact that he left our crew means nothing?!" Zoro barked. "He can come and go as he pleases?!"

"No." Nami looked down at the floor. "But I--"

"Nami," Sanji spoke up seriously, getting the navigator's and the amnesiac's attention. "I hate to admit it, but just this once at least, I have to agree with what he's saying."

 _I hope he's not saying it just because I'm agreeing with him,_ Maria mentally noted dryly.

"If he pulls a pointless stunt like this on a whim, then how can we trust him moving forward?" Zoro asked, pulling his sword up from the floor and sheathing it again.

Maria nodded, thinking back to her own experiences. "Exactly. Pokemon can act like this, too. If you don't make your intentions clear to them, they could end up wrapping you around their paws like some kind of toy, or worse. There are quite a few Pokemon who tried that with me when I was the leader of an Exploration Team and when I was a Trainer later on. Respect is important for something like this, and if that and honesty aren't given and taken on both sides, then you have to do something about either one of the ends, or else the teamwork just isn't going to happen."

The amnesiac knew that she was throwing some terms that her crew members didn't know about, but it felt right to say them without explaining what they were to her. Plus, she doubted that they were going to ask her what she meant now, considering the situation with Usopp.

Zoro paused, looking at the amnesiac with a guarded expression, almost as though he was trying to figure her out. Then he looked back at the others. "It's simple. If the first thing that comes out of his mouth is an apology, then we're good." He moved his sword back to where the other two were hanging from his hip. "But if he tries to make some kind of excuse, then he's no longer welcome. We're not just pretending to be pirates like it's a game."

Maria gained a concerned expression, the word "game" ringing through her head for a moment before it faded out of her mind.

"You're right," Luffy finally stated, bowing his head. "We went our separate ways before. We still have a few days until they finish with the ship. We can wait that long."

He sat down on the rug, adding, "It's all up to him."

**Memory Break**

Maria looked at Luffy now, taking note of the sweat that was dripping from his forehead and the uneasy look on his face. She knew that he didn't want to leave a friend behind, but...there was really nothing that they could do at this point about Usopp's absence and the absence of an apology.

"We waited for him all that time and he never bothered to come," Luffy commented again, looking like he was trying to make himself comfortable and failing miserably. "So I guess we have our answer."

"Yeah..." Maria rubbed her left arm with her right hand. "I guess so."

"It's your call," Franky muttered, adjusting his sunglasses.

"He'll be fine," Luffy continued. "It's not like he quit being a pirate. It's a big world out there, but I'm sure we'll run into him again someday. Even if he isn't one of us anymore...."

Maria noticed some movement out of the corner of her eye, and she glanced to her right. She caught sight of Robin looking at something, and followed the woman's gaze to where Zoro was sitting, his back against the deck wall that separated the lawn from the sea.

When the amnesiac saw that he was gripping his sheathed, white sword and was shaking a little bit, it made her wonder if Zoro was having a hard time with the situation, too.

Luffy gave a nervous laugh, and Maria flinched at how fake it sounded.

"Usopp," Chopper whimpered from the upper deck.

"Luffy, can we wait a little bit longer?" Nami called down from where she stood. "We're not in a rush just yet, right?"

Luffy didn't move from his seat, his eyes shadowed over by his straw hat.

**"Hey! Luffy!"**

If Nami as going to say anything more, she was suddenly cut off by the sound of something hitting the water next to them, causing Maria to jump as the entire ship shook.

"What was that?!" Nami yelped.

Maria looked around the deck, then out at the sea in both directions as two geysers burst up to either side of the ship. It wasn't too long before the amnesiac caught sight of something off to the ship's right.

"Look out there!" Maria pointed out in the direction of the object she had spotted. "It looks like a Marine ship!"

Luffy and Franky ran over to that side of the ship. Maria quickly moved after them, looking at the Marine ship with the dog figurehead with some nervousness.

"Grandpa?" Luffy asked in disbelief.

**"Hey, Luffy! Can you hear me?"**

Maria jumped a bit when she heard Garp's voice suddenly come out from the ship as though it was on a loudspeaker.

**"This is your grandpa speaking. Don't try to ignore me!"**

"Yeah, I hear you!" Luffy barked back. He gripped the deck railing. "What's the deal?! You told me you weren't coming back here! You said you were gonna leave us alone!"

**"Yeah, well, I say a lot of things. Truth of the matter is I'm sending you to a watery grave!"**

"WHAT?!" Luffy gained a panicked expression while Maria held out her right hand and summoned her phoenix-headed staff, the nervous expression on her face increasing in panic.

"This is so not fair," Maria muttered unhappily.

**"I know this isn't much consolation, but for what it's worth, I'll fight you all on my own!"**

"Uh..." Maria swallowed and looked over at Luffy, who looked like his face was losing all its blood at the prospect of being forced to face his grandpa.

"What's he trying to do?" Sanji asked from behind the amnesiac.

"I call this one my...Meteor Fist!"

There came a loud whistling noise, and a black ball was sent flying towards them from a figure on the dog figurehead of Garp's ship, hitting Scrap Island instead of the ship. Maria let out a yelp as the ship was sent drifting to the side, watching the smoke cloud that had come up from the explosion with wide eyes.

"Did he just _throw_ that?" Maria yelped.

"With his bare hands!" Sanji confirmed.

"That moved faster than any cannonball I've ever seen," Zoro commented, up on his feet with two swords in his hands. "He treated it like a baseball!"

Maria remembered what he had said about losing a sword at Enies Lobby and wondered why it was that he hadn't replaced it yet, considering that the broken sword was still strapped to Zoro's waist. _Did that mean his treasure comment was so that he could replace the one he broke...?_

The amnesiac could hear Garp's laughter from where she stood, and she wasn't exactly sure what she thought of it. It sounded like the old man was enjoying himself!

"Those used to fly a lot faster in my younger days!" Garp called.

"Oh, boy...." Maria swallowed as she looked at the Marine ship and the Vice-Admiral standing on the figurehead. "And he can _still_ throw them? Even though he's an old man?"

"Listen! We have to get out of here right now!"

Maria turned her head and looked up at Nami.

"If we don't, he's going to wreck our brand-new ship!" the navigator added.

"This is bad..."

Maria turned to look at Franky, who was looking out towards the Marine ship.

"It looks like there's a lot more where that came from!" the cyborg warned.

"I hope you're ready, boys and girls!" Garp called out. "You can try to run if you like, but you aren't getting away from me!"

"Full speed ahead!" Luffy countered quickly. "Everyone, protect the ship from those cannonballs!"

"Got it!" Maria and Zoro called out together. The two of them looked at each other in surprise upon hearing the two of them speak at once, but then they rushed in different directions: Maria towards the left side of the ship, and Zoro towards the back.

Maria took a couple steps backwards from the deck railing and looked up at the sky, having positioned herself behind the open sail. She let fire coat the head of her phoenix staff, prepared to start firing off attacks whenever Garp started his.

"He's here!" Chopper suddenly ran in front of Maria, startling the amnesiac.

"Who's here?" Maria asked, frowning in confusion.

"Usopp came back, after all!" Chopper started jumping up and down in front of the deck railing, then got up on top of it. "Here that, guys? Usopp's right over there!"

"Are you sure?" Robin asked, coming over to stand next to Maria and giving the reindeer a curious look.

"Uh-huh!" Chopper looked back up at the broken stairs that led into the city of Water 7, giggling delightedly to himself.

"He'd better know what he has to say," Maria commented. She heard a loud whistling noise, and turned her head sharply, only to catch sight of a black ball right before Zoro cut it in half with a 36 Caliber Phoenix.

"Guys, here they come!" The amnesiac started twirling her staff at high speed before sending off a fireball. "Fire Sphere!"

The attack connected with a cannonball that Sanji had missed on the back deck, causing it to explode in the air above the ship. Geysers of water shot up from the water around them, causing the boat to rock as Maria and the others started working at keeping the cannonballs away from the ship that Franky had built for them.

"HEY, GUYS! IT'S ME! DON'T WORRY, EVERYONE!! I'M COMING BACK TO THE CREW!!!"

Maria turned her head sharply when she heard Usopp's voice. Her eyes were wide with surprise before a frown appeared on her face.

"That is _not_ an apology," the amnesiac stated shortly before turning her attention back to the cannonballs.

Chopper looked over at Maria as another explosion went off above their heads. "You sound like you don't want him to come back!" he accused.

In the background, Usopp continued yelling about trying to get them to turn around.

Maria flinched at the tone of voice that the reindeer used, and her concentrating glare softened as she bit her lower lip, considering what could be said.

"I would like to see our captain and him make up," Maria finally admitted, "but remember what Zoro said. He's gotta apologize first before he can get on the ship."

"I know, but --"

"Get down!"

Maria threw out a Fire Sphere right in front of Chopper's nose, sending the mass of fire in front of a number of cannonballs, causing them to explode.

The amnesiac blinked in confusion for a moment, looking at her staff with no small amount of wonder. "Did I just direct that last attack to do that? It obviously didn't move in a straight line...."

"Maria!" came Zoro's bark from the back of the ship. "Get up here so you can hit more of them!"

"Right!"

Maria sent a quick glance at Chopper for a moment, then turned and dashed up the stairs to the back of the boat, where the others were gathered, working together to keep the cannonballs at bay. Maria quickly joined them, standing next to Franky.

"Luffy!" Chopper called up from where he stood on the lawn-covered deck. "Usopp's here! it's not too late!"

"Everyone protect the ship!" Luffy roared, drowning out the reindeer.

Maria twirled her staff around for a moment, building up fire just seconds before throwing it out at a line of cannonballs. However, instead of a sphere this time, it looked more like an air slash from one of Zoro's swords. There was a line of explosions as a result of the contact, but Maria was looking down at her staff rather than at the explosions she had created.

"A...A Fire Slash?" Maria asked in confusion while Franky started up his firing again.

"You can figure out what you did later!" Franky barked. "We've gotta protect this ship from that crazy Marine first!"

"Uh...right!"

Chopper suddenly scrambled onto the deck in his heavy point. "Luffy! Usopp's calling for us!"

Luffy landed after kicking out at a cannonball. "I don't hear anything."

"Zoro!" Chopper went for the swordsman next.

"I don't hear anything, either!" the swordsman declared, chopping two cannonballs into four pieces each.

"Maria, please! I know you heard him!" Chopper ran over to the amnesiac and grabbed her left shoulder.

Maria glanced back at the reindeer, and she felt the others' eyes on her. "That was because I acknowledged his presence. He hasn't done or said anything since that would make me want to listen to him."

The amnesiac caught sight of Zoro's slightly curious expression before he went ahead and chopped up two more cannon balls. Then she turned her attention to the cannonballs that were flying towards them and sent another Fire Slash upwards. Red and orange combined into a fiery inferno as the colors slammed into the black cannonballs, causing more smoke to explode out of nowhere.

"You're pretty handy with that thing," Franky commented, pausing in his shooting of the cannonballs coming at them.

"Thanks," Maria responded. "There's still a lot that I need to relearn though, since I'm still recovering my memories and all."

"I'M SORRY!!!!"

Maria stiffened when she heard the familiar voice yelling at the top of the person's lungs, and she wasn't the only one who froze, either -- Luffy paused after punching a cannonball, a shocked look on his face.

"I'M TOO STUBBORN, I KNOW!! I TAKE BACK EVERY WORD I SAID!!!!"

"That's more like it," Zoro commented in approval, grinning.

"I know I'm being pathetic...I know I already said I quit! BUT WILL YOU LET ME TAKE IT BACK?!! PLEASE!!! I'M BEGGING YOU...YOU'VE GOTTA FORGIVE ME!!!!"

Maria glanced over at Luffy, who had moved to stand at the back of the boat, still with a shocked expression on his face. "It's your call, captain." Then the amnesiac took a step back and started firing at the cannonballs again with the others. Fire Slash was more than capable of taking out multiple targets at once, but the downside was that they had to be in a straight line. So, Maria was constantly switching back and forth between her two so far-rediscovered fire attacks.

"IF I'M NOT WITH YOU, THERE'S NO POINT! DON'T LEAVE ME ALONE!!! I NEED YOU GUYS!! I'LL DO ANYTHING!! PLEASE LET ME JOIN THE CREW JUST ONE MORE TIME!!!!"

Maria jumped back in alarm when a rubbery arm suddenly stretched out to her right, causing the fire that she had been building up to splutter for a moment.

"HURRY UP! GRAB ON ALREADY!!" Luffy yelled, tears streaming out of his eyes in rivers.

Usopp let out a crying wail in response, and Maria couldn't help but grin stupidly at the two of them.

Sanji let out a cry of delight while Zoro commented with a wicked grin, "You'd better not drop him!"

"Amen to that!" Maria agreed, watching as Usopp was sent rocketing towards them. She jumped back as the sniper made it up onto the deck and knocked heads with Luffy before the two of them collapsed on the deck, laughing and crying together.

"All right! The gang's all here!" Luffy declared, jumping up to his feet with a delighted grin on his face. "Now, let's get rid of these stupid cannonballs and head to the New World! Let's go!"

"YEAH!!" everyone called in agreement, Maria raising her right hand and her staff into the air.


	47. Farewell Water 7!

Maria watched with frowning confusion as Zoro worked at pulling up the sail before turning her attention to Franky. "Why did you ask him to do that? We're going to need the wind in order to get out of here, right?"

The cyborg simply gave a large grin. "Trust me on this one! I know what I'm doing!"

"And you're really sure about this?" Zoro called down from his perch. Maria was having a hard time hearing him over Luffy's, Chopper's, and Usopp's cheers at being together again.

"Like I said, I got this! I know more about this ship than you guys do at this point, remember?" Franky grinned.

"Why don't you all shut up and help me?!" Zoro barked, glaring down at the prancing trio.

"Guys, keep your guard up!" Sanji called back. "We can't just stay fooling around when we have cannons flying at us!" He kicked out a leg, catching a cannonball and sending it flying backwards a short distance before it exploded, causing the ship to rock underneath Maria's feet.

"Sanji's got a point, guys!" Maria called over to the others. She ran over to stand behind Sanji -- who was up on the deck railing at the back of the deck -- and twirled around her staff for a moment before sending a slash of fire into the oncoming cannonballs.

"All right, Franky, I've furled all the sails," Zoro stated, coming over to the upper deck at the back of the boat. "Now do whatever it is that you're gonna do before the crazy old man blows us up."

"Before I do that, you guys are forgetting something important."

Maria glanced back at the cyborg, frowning. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that this ship needs a name."

Maria blinked in surprise upon hearing the suggestion.

"A name?!" Sanji barked back. "At a time like this?"

"Of course! This is her maiden voyage, so there'd be no point if we don't do it now!"

"Well, I guess." Sanji jumped up and kicked back another cannonball, causing it to collide with a second coming their way and explode. "Well, whatever it is, it's gotta have lion in it, right?"

"I just came up with the perfect name!" Luffy declared. "The Black Bear Polar Bear Lion Tiger!"

"That's a horrible name for a ship!" Usopp countered.

"And you're taking the saying 'Lions, Tigers, and Bears' a bit too far, I think," Maria commented frowning.

"Then how about the Super Wolf Gorilla Bear--"

Usopp slapped Luffy's face. "Just shut up! Your suggestions aren't helping!"

"Squid Octopus Chimpanzee!"

"What happened to the lion?!"

Maria rolled her eyes at the two's antics, wondering how exactly Luffy was coming up with these names.

"Well, I did have a lion in mind when I designed the ship, but the people at Galley-La seemed to think differently," Franky commented, getting the amnesiac to look back in his direction. "They thought it was a sunflower, then Ice-for-brains thought it was just a sun that would sail over a thousand dangers with a smile, or something like that. He even suggested we call it the 'Thousand Sunny'."

"Oh, I like that!" Luffy declared, grinning.

"Yeah!" Chopper piped up in agreement.

"I would have gone for 'Big Boss Lion,' but Thousand Sunny works, too," Zoro commented.

"I was going to suggest 'Creature of Darkness'," Robin spoke up.

"I think that 'Monsieur Sunflower' would have been the way to go," Sanji stated.

"Have all of you lost your minds?!" Usopp demanded glaring at the trio.

Maria laughed. "They're all suggestions that could have been chosen, Usopp. I don't see why you need to be so picky about it."

The sniper rounded on the amnesiac and stated, "A name of a ship has to have something of the ship's personality in it! If we don't get it right, we may end up giving out the wrong impression!" Usopp paused, then added off-handedly, "But, Thousand Sunny works in this case, I think."

"A ship to sail a thousand seas with a sunny smile...." Robin gave a slight smile. "I think it's perfect."

"Anything's better than just a list of animals," Maria piped up in agreement.

"Now, don't get too excited, guys," Franky spoke up. "I've got a name that will knock your socks off! This ship will now be known as--"

"I like Ice Pop's suggestion!" Luffy declared over Franky's name. Maria was only able to catch "Battle Franky" from the cyborg's lips before the rest of it faded into nonsense. "What do you guys think?"

"It's good," Sanji agreed. " _Thousand Sunny_ it is."

"Yeah!" Nami and Usopp piped up in agreement.

"Nice to meet you, Sunny!" Chopper exclaimed.

"I would have thought that we would have had a harder time agreeing on the name," Zoro commented while Franky's voice faltered. "But I guess it worked out fine."

"So it did," Robin agreed.

Maria nodded in agreement, but then she caught sight of Franky walking away, looking a little dejected, and a smirk made its way across her face. _Something tells me Franky's name would have been as bad as Luffy's._

"Hey, Franky!" Sanji barked. "Stop pouting and use that secret weapon of yours so that we can get moving!"

"Better make it fast, too," Zoro agreed as Maria followed Franky's movements around the deck. "The Navy's gonna catch up to us any second."

Franky turned, still slouching for a moment before a large grin came over his face. "I know, I know. Take one last look at Water 7, cause it's gonna be out of sight before you know it."

Maria frowned in confusion upon hearing that. How were they going to move fast if they weren't able to use the wind?

"I'm warning ya, once we start movin', we'll really be movin'." Franky moved away from the deck railing, leaving the view of the city of water completely unobstructed.

Maria scanned the city, her eyes moving up the tiered levels to the large fountain up at the top of the island. Her eyes tried to take in as much of it as she could, and she found herself wishing that she had actually made it a point to try and explore the city a little bit more.

"Right; got it," Luffy commented. "One sec." He walked over to the deck railing and jumped up onto it, pausing for a moment before he took in a deep breath.

Maria did _not_ expect the next few words that came out of her captain's mouth.

"GRANDPA!!! OH, AND IF YOU'RE THERE, COBY AND...UH...THE OTHER GUY!! IT WAS NICE TO SEE YOU AGAIN!!!"

Maria flinched back when Luffy's voice rammed into her ear drums. "Oi! That's loud!" She rubbed her ears carefully, wondering if she should just put her hands over them if Luffy was going to yell again.

"What are you yapping about, Luffy?" Garp demanded. "I've got plenty more cannonballs! Meteor...Fist!"

A black cannonball came flying towards the ship, and Luffy waited right until the last second to punch the cannonball away from the ship. The resulting explosion rocked the deck of the ship, causing Maria to yelp.

"Give it up!" Luffy yelled. "I don't know what's gonna happen, but we're gonna get away! Well, I hope to see you guys again someday!"

"You little turd! You show your grandpa some respect, you hear me?!"

"Maybe he should show some, too," Maria commented dryly. "You are a part of the next generation, right, Luffy?"

Luffy gave a short laugh, grinning hugely. Then he started yelling again.

"Thanks for helping us name the ship, Ice Pops! You're awesome! And thanks to everybody else, too! Bye, Monster Granny and Galley-La! We had a great time!"

Maria grinned and laughed in agreement, but then she caught sight of something large and black out of the corner of her eye. She turned her head...and her eyes widened so much that they were popping out of their sockets.

"What the heck is that thing?" Luffy muttered, frowning at the large, black sphere that was practically on top of the Marine ship's figurehead.

"That's got to be the largest cannonball I've ever seen!" Maria yelped, her eyes wide.

Usopp let out a scream of terror. "There's no way we're going to be able to dodge that! We'reallgonnadiewe'reallgonnadiewe'reallgonnadie!"

Chopper started running around in circles on the deck, screaming his lungs out.

"Luffy, run!" Coby's voice shot out over the sea. "He's serious this time!"

"Franky! Get us out of here!" Luffy yelled, turning to face the back deck. Maria spun around herself, then gained a panicked expression when she saw that the cyborg was nowhere to be seen.

"Here it comes!" Garp roared as the large black ball was sent flying out towards the _Thousand Sunny._

Maria gulped nervously as she watched the ball of iron coming towards them. She could feel her energy suddenly building up without her so much as trying to move to attack, but she didn't know what was going to happen if she released it through her staff -- or even if they were gonna survive.

"WE'RE ALL GONNA DIE!!!" Sanji, Usopp, and Chopper yelled at once as the ball blocked the sun and started falling towards them.

"Coup de...BURST!!"

In an instant, Maria felt herself get thrown against the back railing of the back deck, her phoenix staff disappearing as she made it a point to hold onto the wood tightly with both hands. The amnesiac watched with no small amount of amazement as the ship was sent flying upward, out from underneath the giant cannonball, which created a spectacular splash in the sea behind them.

"Whoa!" Luffy exclaimed from where he was sitting on the deck railing to Maria's left, one hand on his head to keep the straw hat from flying off.

"Awesome!" Chopper agreed from where he was holding on.

"I never thought that I'd do this again, but here I am!" Usopp commented from behind Maria.

The amnesiac got up to her feet and looked at the sniper curiously. "What do you mean? Are you talking about when we escaped from Enies Lobby?"

Usopp looked over at the blue-eyed girl, surprised at the question. "Uh, w-well, y'see--"

"We had to go flying in order to get up to Sky Island," Luffy commented, looking over at Maria and grinning.

"Oh, yeah! I think I remember you guys mentioning something like that."

Usopp looked over at Luffy in surprise. "You told her?"

"About all our adventures on the Grand Line?" Luffy asked, blinking a couple times before grinning. "Sure! She wanted to know about the kind of stuff we did!"

"It takes some three barrels of cola, but the ship can fly for a whole kilometer," Franky commented suddenly. The four gathered together on the back deck turned to look over at the cyborg.

"Not trying to brag, but anything the _Going Merry_ could do, this ship can do better," Franky added. "And it's even got tricks of its own! And even if it's all new, I'm sure that the brave spirit of the Merry can live on in the Sunny. If anything breaks, I'll fix it up as good as new! Weapons to furniture -- I know this ship up and down! It's my masterpiece, but it's all yours now!"

There came a unanimous cry of approval from the rest of the Straw Hat crew -- Maria included -- as the ship touched down on the sea and continued moving forward.

Maria turned and glanced back at the ocean behind them, barely catching sight of something on the horizon. It looked like the top of it was a fountain, but she couldn't be too sure.

Luffy laughed delightedly, and Maria turned to look back at the other members of her crew. "This calls for a celebration! Sanji, food!"

"Aye aye, captain." Sanji gave a goofy grin, then turned and started belowdecks into the galley.

"And make sure you bring up some booze!" Zoro called after him.

"Yeah, yeah, Moss-Head. I'll get your stupid booze."

Maria smiled slightly, clearly looking like she was enjoying herself. "Hee hee. I can't wait to get something in me after all that fighting against the cannonballs!"

"Then you're really going to enjoy yourself!" Usopp came over and roped one arm over Maria's shoulders. "Our parties are the best!"

Maria grinned. "Really? Even more awesome than the one we had at Galley-La after Garp visited?"

"W-well, it isn't going to be that big, but it is going to be really fun!" Usopp grinned. "Just you wait!"

"All right." Maria gave a grin. "I'm looking forward to it!"

**Time Break**

"All right, you guys!" Luffy stretched an arm far above his head, then let his hand retract and his wooden mug fall back down into his grip. "Are you ready?"

"Yeah!" came a unanimous response from those standing -- or sitting -- on the lawn in front of the main mast. Barrels of drink had been brought up from below, and were now sitting scattered about, waiting to be opened in the coming hours. The small table that the group was surrounding had a few piles sandwiches and sweets placed out on plates.

Maria, standing between Chopper and Franky, looked down at the orange-colored liquid in her own wooden mug curiously. She got the feeling that she hadn't had alcohol before, but also that it was _probably_ going to be okay if she did drink some.

"All right! Let's raise a glass for the return of our old friends Robin and Usopp!" Luffy declared. "As well as our new friends, Franky and Maria, and the best ship, the _Thousand Sunny!_ Let's hear it for our crew! Cheers!"

The wooden mugs slammed into each other -- Chopper and Nami slamming into Usopp's face while the trio laughed -- and Zoro instantly started glugging down what was in his mug.

Maria, after slamming her mug with Luffy, looked at her mug's contents, shrugged, and swallowed down a mouthful. The liquid kinda felt like it burned her throat on the way down, and it slammed into her stomach, leaving a warm feeling behind.

"I think I'm going to like this," Maria commented, smiling delightedly. She took another swallow of her drink, then looked at the mess of people that was over the table, blocking any access to the food. "Now, if only I can get at some of Sanji's cooking...."

"Next stop, Fish-Man Island!" Luffy declared loudly.

"Yeah!" everyone yelled in agreement.

Franky let out a laugh. "I'm glad you guys forced me to come along with you! This is gonna be fun!"


	48. Visions and a Surprise Gift

Nami and Robin were awoken that first night on the _Thousand Sunny_ by Maria screaming loudly in her sleep.

"What the--Maria!" The orange-haired navigator leapt out of bed and ran over to the brown-haired teenager, then started to shake her vigorously. "Are you all right? What's happening to you?"

Robin stared with wide eyes at the teenager's shaking form, watching as Maria curled up into a ball and started muttering something under her breath.

"Darkness and fire...."

"Nami, we may need to get Chopper," Robin suggested. "Perhaps Maria is having a bad reaction to the alcohol." The archeologist had seen how the amnesiac hadn't drank anything with alcohol over the past few days, so perhaps, she had been avoiding it because of a past event that Maria could no longer remember.

The orange-haired teen turned and gave a nod. "Right." She dashed out of the room, then came back in seconds later with the little reindeer and the other members of the crew.

"What happened?" Sanji demanded as soon as they came in. He and looked like they were ready to wring something's neck, while Usopp looked downright nervous

"It's Maria," Nami replied, motioning to the shaking amnesiac, lying in her bed under the red blanket. "It looks like she's suffering from a bad nightmare or something."

Chopper quickly climbed up onto the bed and started to inspect the girl while Robin slipped out from underneath the covers of her own bed (wearing nightclothes, of course) and slipped over to where the others were standing, either half-dressed or wearing makeshift pajamas.

"I don't think she's in the nightmare anymore." Chopper backed away from Maria's head and moved to the other end of the bed, then looked at the others. "She's in a state of shock right now. All we can really do for now is wait it out, or find a way to bring her out of it."

"A good knock on the head should do the trick," Zoro suggested.

"You are not going to hit a lady, moss head, especially not that one!" Sanji pointed at Maria's shaking form. "It could make her amnesia _worse,_ you moron!"

"Actually, I looked her head over to see if she'd managed to get a concussion in her sleep, and it looks like her head is harder than anyone else's here," Chopper spoke up suddenly. "I doubt that hitting Maria is going to do anything."

"But...what could have caused her nightmare?" Sanji frowned. "Is it another memory?"

Chopper frowned. "Maybe...."

"N-no, it's not."

Everyone looked over at Maria as she started to get up into some sort of semblance of a sitting position, the red blanket that had been over her now wrapped around her body like it was supposed to protect her.

"What did you mean?" Sanji asked. "If it wasn't a memory, Maria-san, then what was it?"

Maria's eyes locked with Sanji's. "A vision of something that happened a few days ago."

"What did you see?" Robin asked quietly, frowning slightly. "You said something about darkness and fire."

Maria gave a grim nod in Robin's direction. "Yeah." She looked at the rest of the crew. "You guys remember telling me about Luffy's older brother, Ace? When you were explaining about how Devil Fruits work?"

"Say what?!" Franky looked at Luffy in surprise, but the captain had his gaze locked on Maria.

"Interesting...." Robin murmured quietly.

"Why do you ask?" Nami asked, frowning.

I saw him in my vision."

That got everyone to pause for a moment.

"Well, how was he doing?" Nami pressed. "We haven't seen him since Alabasta, so a report on his progress would be nice."

"Well...." Maria swallowed nervously as she thought back to what she had seen. "He found this guy named Blackbeard tearing up some town that they said wasn't too far from Water 7."

"He found him?" Luffy grinned. "Well that's great! Maybe we should turn around and go meet him!"

"I don't think that's going to be possible."

"Huh?" Luffy frowned at the rather unhappy look on Maria's face. "And why not?"

"While I didn't see the end result of the fight, I could see the start of it. Blackbeard apparently killed his fellow crewmember because he wanted to get his hands on a specific Devil Fruit that he had been looking for. And the powers it gave him...." Maria shuddered. "It was like seeing light and darkness battling on that island."

The others looked at each other upon hearing this.

"Light and darkness, huh?" Sanji frowned. "Well, from what we know about Ace, he can control fire, so I'm guessing that's the light. But darkness...what's that supposed to mean?"

"I don't know. Most of the words were kinda blotted out for some reason, and a lot of stuff looked pretty fuzzy, too -- especially when Ace and Blackbeard started fighting. I wasn't able to see who won the fight."

The other crew members frowned, then looked over at Luffy, who had a dark frown on his face. A moment later, he shook his head.

"Ace can take care of himself," the pirate teen commented. "He should be fine."

"Besides, we don't even know if you're telling the truth or not about actually seeing Ace," Zoro countered.

"Zoro!" Nami exclaimed, looking at the swordsman.

"Well, we don't know, do we?" Zoro repeated, scowling at the navigator.

"Since you know him already, you should be able to recognize him when I describe him," Maria spoke up in a grim tone. "He's got freckles all over his face, an orange cowboy hat, a necklace with bright red beads all around, and a giant purple cross on his back with a skull that has what looks like a crescent-shaped mustache."

Luffy's eyes widened, and Zoro made a spluttering noise while Nami gave him an "I-told-you-so" expression.

"Okay, so this one _may_ be true," Zoro stated pointedly, scowling.

"So...have you had any other visions like that?" Usopp spoke up nervously.

"No fights, if that's what you mean," Maria replied. She saw the long-nosed sniper give a sigh of relief. "But I did see a lot of places -- and all of them had people reacting to your bounties."

That got the Straw Hat crews' attention.

"Really?" Nami gave the blue-eyed amnesiac a look of surprise. "What did you see?"

"Um..." Maria paused for a moment, then looked over at Luffy. "Your entire town was celebrating, but the mayor didn't seem too happy about you becoming a criminal."

The captain gave a large grin. "Heh."

Next, Maria turned to look at Zoro. "Your old sensei has new students who want to grow up to be a pirate just like you, but he's trying to tell them he doesn't teach them how to be pirates--they have to choose that path themselves. He said he wanted you to cherish your own way of the sword."

Zoro's eyes widened when he heard this, and he looked at Maria with an expression of disbelief.

"And there was some white-haired guy with two cigars in his mouth and a woman who has bad eyesight and a pretty large sword who heard about your bounties going up, too. The guy with the cigars vowed to hunt you guys down in the New World."

Zoro's disbelieving expression shifted to one of annoyance.

"Smokey's going to the New World, too?" Luffy asked, interested. A grin crossed his face. "It's been a while since we've seen him!"

Maria blinked at her captain for a moment, then shook her head and looked over at Usopp. She bit her lower lip for a moment, considering the words that she was going to say next.

"Usopp, a girl named Kaya and three boys were talking about Sogeking's bounty. Kaya's learning medical stuff, so if you come home injured, she wants to be the one to nurse you back to health."

The sniper's chest puffed up with pride while Sanji grumbled something about Usopp being a lucky duck for getting such a beautiful young woman to look after him if he ever got hurt.

"Chopper, Dalton's pretty certain the amount for your bounty is a mistake."

"That's exactly what I was thinking!" the reindeer exclaimed.

"Although, the bartender in Luffy's hometown seems to think you're just an adorable pet."

Chopper's shoulders sagged while Luffy burst out into loud laughter.

"What about me?" Nami moved in front of Maria's view, a skeptical and yet eager expression on her face. "How are things in Cocoyashi village?"

"You don't need to worry. Nojiko brings tangerines to a man with a bunch of scars pretty often, and on this particular occasion he was complaining about the picture on your wanted poster...he said something about wanting the picture changed, and claimed that you'd get more marriage suitors than bounty hunters." Maria smirked. "Even though he was complaining about it, he did have a blown up poster put in his workplace."

Nami committed a facepalm.

"On the bright side, the two of them know that you're having a good time out here, considering how you were smirking."

Nami didn't bother to look up; she just sighed instead.

"And...how are things at the Baratie, Maria-san?" Sanji asked.

"Baratie? Is that the name of the fish-headed floating restaurant?" Maria asked, cocking her head to one side curiously.

Sanji gave a nod. "Yeah, that's right."

"Well...the head chef commented that soon everyone will know the names of the Straw Hat pirates. Their faces, on the other hand...." Maria chuckled. "He showed the staff your wanted poster, and they collapsed into roars of laughter."

The cook let out a growl, but he said nothing.

"And I saw a woman named Vivi, too. There were a couple people with her, complaining about how Robin was a part of our crew, but Vivi wasn't worried about it."

Robin gave a slight smile. "Princess Vivi is certainly quite fond of our captain."

"She knows he's going to become King of the Pirates," Maria agreed, nodding. She was starting to feel a little bit more comfortable now that they were talking about people who weren't at each other's throats with abilities that could cause an entire island to be destroyed.

A frown crept over Maria's face. "There was someone else, too...." She snapped her fingers. "Oh, yeah! I got a peek into the Revolution's base of operations!"

"WHAT?!" came everyone's exclamation.

Maria gave a nod, grinning. "And not only that, but I saw Dragon, too. He got a good look at Luffy's wanted poster, and said he's looking forward to meeting with you someday!"

"Really?" Luffy's eyes widened in surprise. "No way!"

"Yes way!"

"Whoa!" Chopper exclaimed. "That's pretty cool! We're gonna meet Luffy's dad someday!"

"I don't know if it's something to be excited about," Nami commented nervously. "I mean, Dragon is the most dangerous man in the world!"

"He's against the government, like us," Maria pointed out, "so I'd say he's more of a friend than a foe."

"But he might also hate pirates!" Usopp hissed in reply. "I don't want to meet a guy who might end up trying to kill us like Garp did!"

Maria frowned while Luffy and Chopper looked at Usopp curiously. Before any one of them could say anything, however, Maria let out a loud yawn, causing everyone to look in her direction.

"We should probably get back to bed," Sanji agreed. "No point in thinking about this while it's still dark out." He turned and started back out of the room.

"Yeah," Chopper agreed. "Maria, can you see if you can get anymore sleep tonight? And if you see anything else, will you let us know?"

"Sure, Chopper." Maria gave a slight nod, looking down at the reindeer at the foot of her bed.

The ship's doctor gave a nod, and then he turned and jumped off the bed before trotting out of the room, followed closely by Usopp.

Nami sent a glare in Zoro's and Luffy's directions as she moved to stand between her bed and Maria's. "Well, what are you two waiting for? Get out of here and go back to bed or watch or whatever it was that you were doing!"

Luffy ignored his navigator, instead coming over to Maria's bed and giving her a grin.

"If you find out anything else, don't be afraid to tell us, kay?" the captain asked.

Maria blinked a couple times as she looked up at her dark-eyed captain. Then she gave a nod. "Yeah. Sure."

Luffy's grin widened for a moment, and then he turned and walked out of the room, one hand resting on the straw hat on top of his head. This left Zoro staring down Maria with a guarded expression that left the amnesiac feeling somewhat uneasy -- but only by a small amount.

Maria eyed Zoro with a curious expression on her face, expecting the swordsman to say something. However, he never did; the green-haired teen simply turned and walked out of the room without another word.

Nami made an annoyed noise, then climbed back under the covers of her bed as Zoro slammed the door shut, muttering something about how stupid their swordsman was. Robin simply gave an amused, knowing look as she walked back to her own bed and shifted herself under the covers.

Maria moved the red blanket off her so that it was less like a shawl and more like a sheet.

"I don't think Zoro's stupid," she spoke aloud, causing Nami and Robin to look over at her. "He's just quiet and observant."

And with that, she snuggled under the covers, closed her eyes, and attempted to drift off to sleep.

**Memory Break**

_"So, what is it that you're planning on doing with the Berries, Mom?" Maria asked, looking over at the woman as she got on her hands and knees in the dirt._

_"I'm going to plant them," Maria's adopted mother responded matter-of-factly. She dug her hands into the dirt, pushing a bright blue sphere into the dark brown earth. "If you're going to be able to have a healthy supply of Berries, then you're going to need a garden in order for the Berry trees to grow. And what better person to look after it than me?"_

_"Berry trees?" Maria blinked a couple times in confusion. "You can actually grow them on this side of the world?"_

_"Well, yes." The woman looked over at Maria, eyeing the ten-year-old with a curious gaze. "We have to be able to, if we're going to use them to make medicine and food."_

_"Oh." Maria rubbed the back of her head, looking embarrassed. "Sorry, I wasn't thinking; I only remember that finding actual trees was hard to do; we usually ended up running into Berries that were lying on the ground. Since they were so easy to run out of and none of us actually wanted to drop a Berry in a hole in the ground for fear of losing something we could use later on, I guess nobody really thought of having a Berry tree farm."_

_"Well, now you know. It is certainly important, if you don't want to run out of free medicine." The woman patted the dirt over the buried Berry, then turned and handed Maria what looked like a small, brown bag with backpack straps, as well as a small book. "Here. I have some Berries in here that you can already use as you like, and a book that has some recipes for medicine or food. Something tells me you're going to need them."_

_Maria gained a bright smile, and she quickly grabbed the items. "Thanks! This is going to be really helpful!"_

**Memory Break**

When Maria woke up the next morning, she felt something large and heavy lying on top of her chest, making it somewhat difficult to breathe. The amnesiac looked up as best she could, and caught sight a large, brown backpack that looked like it had seen better days..and a well-worn book propped up against it, right in front of her nose.

"Huh? This looks like almost the exact same stuff that I saw in my dreams." Maria frowned. "How did that get here?"

The amnesiac reached up, grabbing the sack and rolling if off her chest and onto the floor with a dull _thud,_ causing the book to fall onto her chest with a soft thud. Maria grabbed the item and opened it up before she started sifting through its contents.

She was about halfway through skimming through the book -- becoming even more surprised by each rapid page turn -- that when the door to the girl's quarters slammed open, Maria jumped a little in her bed before looking up in surprise.

"Uh...morning?" Maria greeted hesitantly, looking at Nami and Sanji in confusion.

"How'd you manage to get that backpack off you?" the navigator demanded in surprise.

"What do you mean? All I did was push it off." Maria gave a half shrug as she closed the book, then turned and started to climb out of bed, picking up the backpack as she did so and throwing it over her shoulder.

"How? You look even weaker than me, and I couldn't move it!"

"Maybe it's because of all the stuff I did with the Pokemon I befriended." Maria shrugged agin, then started walking over towards the door. "Where are the others?"

"We just finished breakfast," Sanji explained as Maria stepped out onto the deck. "Chopper suggested that we let you sleep in a little after last night."

Maria paused, getting quick flashes from her dreams from the night before, causing a shudder to run through her for a moment when she saw Ace's orange cowboy hat lying on the ground, seemingly forgotten, with the background completely faded out.

"Yeah, thanks." Maria looked around the deck and caught sight of most of the crewmembers out sitting on the lawn -- or simply lying on it, as was the case with Chopper. The only person who was moving was Zoro, and he was climbing up a ladder that went up the mast to the crow's nest, his swords strapped to his waist like usual.

Maria looked down at the worn book in her hands, considering what she was holding for a moment before grinning. "Chopper's going to want to see this."

"What do you mean?" Nami came up from behind the amnesiac and looked over her shoulder at the object Maria had in her hands.

"Why would such a lovely lady like you be doing with such a worn book, Maria-san?" Sanji inquired.

"I'll explain when we get to the others," Maria replied, grinning. She made her way over to the stairs that led down to the main deck and started moving downward, a delighted expression on her face. "Hey, guys! Come over here and have a look at what I just found!"

The other Straw Hats looked over at Maria with no small amount of confusion, Zoro pausing on the ladder in order to look down at the amnesiac while Chopper sat up and looked over in her direction.

"Hi, Maria!" Luffy bounded over, one hand on his head to keep his straw hat from flying off. "What's in the backpack?"

"Where did you get that book?" Robin inquired, coming over with a book in her own hands.

The others quickly crowded around the amnesiac, Zoro arriving last as he was moving slowly across the lawn after he had jumped down from the ladder.

"This stuff...I don't know how it got here, but it's stuff from my past," Maria explained, shifting the backpack off her shoulder and onto her arm before dropping it onto the lawn.

"From your past?" Sanji repeated, frowning.

"Impossible," Zoro commented. "There's no way objects can travel through time."

Maria smirked knowingly and gave a sly smirk. "Actually, it is possible, if you know the right Pokemon."

Zoro's eyes narrowed. "Yeah, sure. Like we're going to be running into any of _those_ anytime soon. And how do we even know if they exist?"

Maria frowned at the green-haired swordsman for a moment, then held up the worn book in her hands. "This might be able to give some proof of what I'm talking about." She opened up the book directly to the inside cover and held it up for the others to see what exactly was there.

"What kind of creature is that?" Nami asked, frowning at the pictures drawn onto the inside cover. "It looks like some kind of fox and...I don't know what that is."

"That's me and Pika, one of my Pokemon friends," Maria responded easily. "I'm the six-tailed fox, the Vulpix, and Pika is the Electric Mouse Pokemon, Pikachu."

"Let me see!" Chopper suddenly shifted from Brain Point to Heavy Point, and he looked over the heads of everyone else and down at the book in Maria's hands. "Whoa...you mean some Pokemon look like those?"

"Yup!"

"They are quite well-detailed drawings," Robin commented, observing the sitting position of the six-tailed fox and the proud position that the Electric Mouse was standing in, front paws resting above his hips and a red scarf wrapped around the Pokemon's neck.

"He looks so cool!" Luffy commented, looking down at Pika with wide eyes of amazement.

Maria chuckled. "He definitely is cool. He and I worked together on a lot of things, so we're pretty close."

"How is it that you looked like that?" Nami demanded, motioning to the six-tailed red fox sitting on the page.

"Eh..." Maria looked around at her fellow crewmembers and shrugged helplessly. "I'm afraid I don't remember that part yet. I think it had something to do with traveling back in time and getting my path disrupted. Then I asked a Legendary Pokemon who could control space to change me back -- and he did."

Zoro snorted. Sanji sent the swordsman a glare.

"There's more pictures in here, too, but they're on pages with recipes," Maria added.

"Recipes?" Sanji turned his head sharply to look over at Maria in surprise.

"Yeah. For medicines and for actual food that a person could eat on a regular basis. I've got the ingredients in here..." Maria lifted up the brown backpack. "...but they're probably only good as seeds right about now, since I don't know how long Berries can stay ripe."

"Berries?" came the unanimous question.

Luffy gained an unhappy look on his face. "So...no meat?"

"They can be used _with_ meat," Maria offered. She closed the book and held it out to the cook of the crew. "Sanji, Chopper, you can have a look at this if you want. Just be careful, okay? This book is kinda well-used, and I've added a lot of things to it besides what was there when I first got it."

Sanji gave a nod, carefully taking the book from Maria's hands. "We'll be careful, Maria-san."

"Yeah," Chopper added in agreement. He had an excited look on his face that clearly said he was eager to get a look at what was inside the book that Maria had managed to find.

"If you have any questions, don't be afraid to ask," Maria added as the two moved a short distance away.

"So, you're going to need a place to plant those things then, right?" Franky guessed as the others started to disperse a little. Zoro went back to the ladder on the mast and started to climb up to the crow's nest, while Robin moved over to Chopper and Sanji, who were looking over the book and chatting excitedly to each other. Luffy and Usopp bounded after the archeologist, looking like they were curious about the book, as well. Nami, like Zoro, left the main deck, instead disappearing inside the cabin's second floor, where the girl's quarters were.

"Yeah," Maria answered, nodding. "Berry trees don't tend to last too long, but they're pretty hardy -- hardy enough to grip to the sides of mountains where they're hardly any dirt or nutrients to suck up. I could plant a couple on the lawn down here --"

"Maybe. But it might be better if you plant them up there, with Nami's tangerines." Franky motioned to the upper deck, above the cabin, where Nami's bright green trees were showing off their natural, orange ornaments.

"That sounds like a good idea." Maria hefted the backpack onto her back again and started up the stairs towards the back of the boat, where Nami's trees were located.

"This book is incredible!" Chopper yelled to Maria as she passed. "These berries are natural medicines! How did you find them when I haven't heard about them?"

"They were pretty common in the Pokemon regions," Maria called back. "Maybe, if we ever go there, I can show you how common they are."

"That would be awesome!"

Luffy let out a laugh. "The names of those berry things are funny!"

"How are we going to know how to tell them apart?" Usopp asked.

Maria frowned for a moment, pausing at the base of the stairs that led up to the back deck. "I think there's an index in the back that has pictures and descriptions of each Berry and the type of flavor it has. There are a lot of different mixes that people and Pokemon have made as a result of experimenting with food, but I wouldn't do it now, if I were you. Some of those Berries can have some nasty surprises in them if you mix them up with the wrong Berries. The Spicy ones especially."

An interested expression crossed both Sanji's and Usopp's faces, making Maria wonder if she should have mentioned that at all. She turned and started up the stairs again as the duo turned to look back at the book and pour over its contents.

Maria soon arrived at the top of the cabin, where Nami's tangerine trees were planted. To her surprise, Nami was up there with a watering can, looking over her trees with a peaceful expression on her face.

The amnesiac took note of an empty plot of dirt nearby and dropped her brown backpack in front of it before dropping to her knees and opening the backpack up. Smells of all kinds instantly slammed into her nose, making the facial appendage crinkle up a little.

"Yup, smells like they're rotten, all right," Maria commented, clamping her nose shut with two fingers. "I'd better hurry and plant these before they end up turning into fertilizer!" She quickly reached in and started grabbing squishy, evily-colored balls of what looked like once had been fruit before digging holes in the dirt and burying every single one of them in neat rows through the box of dirt that was right next to Nami's trees.

The navigator glanced over upon seeing Maria's frantic movements over the box of dirt. "Are you sure that all of those are going to be able to fit in there once they grow larger?"

"Huh?" Maria looked up from her frantic covering of one particularly smelly ball of fruit, blinking a couple times at the orange-haired teen before registering Nami's question. "Oh! No, it's going to be fine -- Berry trees never really grow to be all that large, and they're never really around for too long -- it takes them somewhere between one and three days to grow up and have their fruits ripen. All I have to do is water them and make sure bugs and weeds don't choke them out." A look of realization quickly crossed Maria's face. "That's right!"

Nami's brown eyes blinked in confusion as Maria quickly turned and started digging through the brown backpack again. "What's right?"

"I've got a watering can made specifically from my world for Berry farming in here!" Maria replied, not looking up at the navigator. She looked into the bottom of the backpack, nose crinkling up as the smell of rotten Berries worked its way up into her nose. "I'm definitely going to be washing this thing later."

Spotting what it was that she was looking for, Maria dunked her hand in and brought out something that looked like a blue watering can, except that it had a bright green lilypad on top and was shaped to look like some kind of creature with six short legs.

"What is _that?"_ Nami asked, frowning at the object in Maria's hand.

"It's a water sprinkler that's supposed to look like a Lotad," Maria commented in reply as she rose up to her feet. "It takes that humidity from the air and condenses it into water, so I don't ever need to refill it from a nearby lake or anything. Considering that we're out on the ocean, it shouldn't take too long for the water to build up so that I can get my Berry plot wet."

Nami gave Maria a weird look while the amnesiac looked over the water sprinkler, brushing off the remains of what looked like rotten pieces of fruit. "That's got to be the weirdest thing I've ever seen."

Maria glanced over at the navigator and gave a sly smirk. "You'd be surprised at how weird some Pokemon can get. I met one once that looked like a possessed garbage bag."

A disgusted look came over Nami's face, and she quickly turned her attention back to her tangerine trees while Maria looked down at her planted Berries and tilted the water sprinkler downward. Within seconds, she was moving up and down the plot, water sprinkling out of the Lotad's "mouth" and over the lumps of dirt that held the Berries.

"By this time tomorrow, some of these should be ready to let me pull the Berries off," Maria commented as she moved.

Nami rolled her eyes at the amnesiac's comment. "That I doubt."


	49. Berries and Fire Practice

Maria stayed close to her Berry patch for the rest of the day, refusing to stray too far in case something happened to them and she was forced to scramble to make sure that the plants were still all right.

Luffy was disappointed that the amnesiac wouldn't come and play in any of their games on the lawn below, but he left her alone. Maria wondered if it was because of Sanji and Nami both going after him for yelling up at her to get away from "the stupid plants" for an hour.

By the time Nami had come up to tell Maria it was time for lunch, she was shocked to discover at some of the planted Berries had actually started to sprout.

"Told you they'd grow fast!" Maria exclaimed triumphantly, grinning up at the navigator when Nami had let out an exclamation of surprise. "They're going to get bigger overnight, too, and then by tomorrow morning, they'll have berries ready to be picked!"

"It's impossible for plants to be able to grow this fast," Nami commented in reply with a shake of her head. "There's no way that these things can be natural."

Maria frowned at the navigator's comment, then chewed on her lower lip for a moment before answering. "Well, the Pokemon said that they were. And then there's how big that apples can get on their side of the world, too...I've seen some that were almost as big as my head and were made of pure gold."

That got Nami's attention, and she looked at the amnesiac with a strange expression of eagerness. "Gold apples?"

"Yeah. They were really hard to find, though." Maria shrugged. "At least they sold for a lot." The amnesiac rose to her feet, brushing off her blue jeans with her hands before turning again to look at Nami. "So, lunch, right?"

Nami blinked a couple times, the greedy expression that had been on her face fading to one of confusion for a moment. "Yeah, right -- and we've got a couple questions about that book that you brought out of nowhere, too."

"Oh? Okay."

Maria and Nami made their way back down to the lower deck, where the two disappeared into the lower level of the cabin, where the galley was located.

As the two stepped inside, the amnesiac felt like she was being punched in the face by the wall of noise that she ran into. The only thing that she could tell was that Zoro and Sanji had gotten into a shouting match and Luffy was trying to get the cook's attention to bring the food out while Usopp and Chopper were chatting excitedly about something to themselves. Franky, who had somehow managed to end up sitting next to Robin on the table, was looking at the scene with an expression of befuddlement while Robin was simply watching in amusement.

Maria blinked a couple times while Nami let out a sigh of annoyance and stomped inside. The amnesiac had seen the crew act like this a few times before -- considering that she had joined up with them and had been living in the same building since after Enies Lobby -- but she didn't expect them to be able to get this loud just before a meal at this point.

The amnesiac let out a sigh herself before going ahead and joining Nami, taking the only other empty seat that there was at the table. She rubbed her ears, an uncomfortable expression crossing her face at the loudness of Zoro's, Luffy's and Sanji's voices.

"Sanji-kun, could you go get our food?" Nami called out loudly, an annoyed tone in her voice as she ground out the words.

Sanji's attention turned quickly from Zoro, and the glare that had been on his face was replaced by his lovey-dovey expression. "Of course, Nami-swan!" He abruptly slipped away from the table and into the kitchen, returning moments later with plates of food that he quickly scattered across the table, placing them in front of the ladies first.

"I hope you enjoy it!" Sanji called to Maria, Nami, and Robin. Then he turned to glare at the boys at the table and unceremoniously dropped their dishes in front of them. "Here, you idiots."

"Thanks, Sanji!" Luffy instantly started digging in, and, to Maria's alarm, his arms started stretching out for the food that was on other people's plates. However, Luffy wasn't necessarily always lucky; Maria's fellow crewmates seemed to know when he was coming, even when they weren't looking in his direction. They quickly swallowed the food that Luffy was reaching for or put up something to block his reach.

The amnesiac moved before her captain could get to her plate of food, moving her left arm in front of her plate while she started eating the meat-and-noodle dish that Sanji had put in front of her.

Much to the amnesiac's shock, Maria felt energy rush through her arm, and as she looked up, the entire sleeve of her orange jacket burst into flames.

Maria found herself blinking in surprise at her own arm, looking at it rather than at her partially-eaten plate and wondering how exactly she had managed to summon her fire without needing to pull up the phoenix staff.

_Was I able to do this before I lost my memory? Can I summon lightning or ice without needing my staff?_

Luffy didn't seem to notice Maria's distraction; he attempted to reach forward and ended up having his hand collide with the amnesiac's burning arm, gripping it with a bare hand.

"Hmm? Something feels warm...." Luffy glanced up from his plate and looked down from his spot at the head of the table. His eyes widened a moment later when he saw what he was holding onto. With a yelp of surprise, the captain drew his hand back and started shaking it in the air, blowing on the palm of his hand for a moment before blinking in confusion. "Wait a minute...I'm not burnt!"

"He's not?" Nami asked in confusion from Maria's right. "How is that even possible? You grabbed onto her arm, didn't you?"

"Well, yeah. It felt kinda warm, but not hot." Luffy looked down at his hand in confusion while Maria kept her gaze locked on her left arm.

Maria bit her lower lip when she felt the eyes of the other Straw Hats on her, and she shook her left arm for a moment before the fire dissipated. "I think it's got something to do with a couple abilities that I picked up from when I was a Vulpix. My fire won't hurt anybody that I consider a friend, so you guys grabbing me when I'm on fire isn't going to hurt you guys."

"That's so COOL!" Luffy declared loudly.

"You should feel honored that Maria-san considers you a friend!" Sanji barked in their captain's direction. Luffy, however, ignored him and went back to eating.

Maria and the others managed to finish off their dinners without their captain from taking most of their food.

As soon as all the plates were clean, Luffy looked over at Sanji and begged, "Can I have seconds?"

"No; you've already eaten everything that I'd made for lunch," Sanji responded matter-of-factly. "You're just going to have to wait for dinner."

Luffy gained a disappointed expression upon hearing this. Maria frowned when she saw the pouting expression that was on her captain's face.

"I've got to figure out more about my abilities," the amnesiac commented, looking down at her hands. "I didn't think that I could summon my fire like that without needing my staff. Since my Berry trees are probably gonna be okay for now, I think I'm going to try to see what else I can do." She looked up at the others around the table. "Since you guy's aren't gonna get hurt by me doing stuff, could one of you guys give me a hand?"

Luffy instantly perked up immediately. "I'll help!"

"I'd be more than willing to help you, Maria-san!" Sanji cooed, turning his attention to the amnesiac.

Zoro snorted, then got up from the table abruptly and slipped out of the galley without a word. Sanji turned his attention as the swordsman moved and sent a dark glare after him as he left the room.

"I don't think I want to be at the receiving end of your attacks, friendly fire or not," Nami commented, getting to her feet. "I've got maps to draw, and we aren't going to be able to get to Fish-Man Island if we just drift around mindlessly."

"That's fine," Maria replied lightly, glancing over at the navigator. "I think Luffy's gonna be more than enough for help. I just need some help drawing out my abilities more." She glanced over at Franky curiously. "And I might need yours, too."

"Mine?" Franky repeated, raising an eyebrow in confusion.

"You can do that flamethrower thing. I want to see if I can do it, too."

Franky blinked in surprise for a moment, then gave a grin. "Sure! I'd be more than happy to help you with Fresh Fire!"

"Come on! Come on!" Luffy grabbed Maria's arm and dragged her out of her seat and out the door onto the deck. Maria stumbled out onto the lawn, barely managing to keep up with her speeding captain. Franky followed after them, smirking.

Maria slipped out of Luffy's grip as the captain relaxed and moved over to stand in front of the amnesiac. "Okay...now to figure out how to get my fire running again."

"Come on! Come on!" Luffy jumped from one foot to the other, looking eager to see Maria show off her abilities.

"Just give me a sec!" Maria shifted her feet into a shoulder-width stance while she looked down at her hands for a moment. She frowned at her hands before clenching them into fists.

 _"You were trying to make me mad?"_ echoed her own voice at the back of her head.

"Anger...." Maria gritted her teeth for a moment, trying to make herself annoyed by digging as far back into her mind as she could. As soon as she hit the Gates of Justice and what Nami had said about them, Maria could feel annoyance bubbling up at the mentioning of the "Quintessans" that had come up from deep in her memories somewhere.

Fire started to explode up from her hands and move up her arms as something at the back of Maria's head stated _Level Two, Fire Zone._

Maria looked over at her arms for a moment, then up at Luffy with a slight smirk. The captain himself looked somewhat amazed at the show of fire that was running up her arms.

"Okay...." Maria clenched and unclenched her hands before letting the fire fade before allowing her hands to become coated in flames before fiery spheres appeared in her hands. "Let's give this a shot." She drew her arms back and threw them forward, yelling, "Fire Sphere!"

The two balls of flame leapt from Maria's hands and zoomed towards Luffy, who jumped out of the way with a large grin on his face. Maria caught sight of his movements and moved to fire another round of Fire Spheres in his direction. However, the blue-eyed amnesiac never managed to get that far. Because the two spheres that she had already fired suddenly _moved_ in the direction that Luffy had jumped.

Luffy glanced behind him and jumped in a different direction, but the Fire Spheres simply moved sharply and went after him yet again.

"That's a pretty neat trick!" Franky commented from nearby.

"Yeah," Maria responded, not taking her sight off the pirate captain jumping around the deck in order to avoid the fireballs. "This is pretty cool."

"Not just cool! Super!"

Luffy suddenly came to a stop in the middle of the deck, allowing the fire to pass over his arms and upper body, grinning like some kind of maniac. "Your fire's really warm and fuzzy!"

Maria blinked in confusion for a moment. "Uh...okay, I guess? Warm I'd get, but not the fuzzy part...."

"Try something else!" Luffy suggested, hopping from foot to foot again eagerly. "I wanna see what else you can do!"

"Okay...." Maria gained a slight frown. "What else can I do...?"

"Let's see about that Fresh Fire," Franky suggested. "If you can control where those little balls go, I'd like to see what you can do with a stream of it."

"Sure!" Maria turned her attention to the cyborg while Luffy settled into an eager watching stance, looking like he was expecting something awesome. "What do you end up doing in order to get your fire to come out?"

"Me?" Franky grinned before slipping his sunglasses down over his eyes. "I've gotta get a lot of air in me before I can get a spark to ignite some of my cola."

"Cola can be ignited?" Maria asked, frowning in confusion. She had learned from the cyborg the night before what exactly it was that he ran on -- both Luffy and Chopper got stars in their eyes when they learned that their new shipwright was a _cyborg_ who ran on _soda_ \-- but the amnesiac wasn't exactly sure what to make of him. There was a strange sense at the back of her mind that made Maria curious about Franky's metal-based abilities, as well, but the amnesiac decided against speaking out about it.

After all, when she had given an amazed noise along with Luffy's, Chopper's, and Usopp's cries of amazement, Nami and Zoro had looked at Maria like she was nuts.

"Eh...I'm not gonna go into the details. Point is, you need to build up enough air and get some kind of spark to go off in order to get a Fresh Fire going."

"Okay." Maria gave a nod then looked over at Luffy, who was watching them expectantly. The amnesiac started to take in a breath, her chest expanding as much as it could as she tried to imagine that there was something building up in her gut: a fuel, some energy, whatever worked.

It took a moment of Maria holding her breath before she actually managed to feel something start to build up in her gut--some kind of pressure that was getting hard to hold down. It was almost like there was something warm down there that was starting to move up her throat.

Maria drew back, and she blew forward as hard as she could.

A stream of yellow-orange flames suddenly came bursting up Maria's throat and towards Luffy. The rubber captain let out a delighted laugh and jumped out of the way as the fire suddenly started curling upward in a spiral that went to half the height of the main mast before dissipating into thin air.

Franky let out a laugh. "That was some incredible fire!"

"Yeah!" Maria agreed. "And I was even able to get my Flamethrower to spiral like that! This is so awesome!"

"Yeah! You're strong!" Luffy agreed, laughing. "I can't wait to see what else you can do!"

"Those Marine guys aren't gonna know what hit them when I get my memories back and remember all my tricks!" Maria raised a fist in the air, grinning with a mouthful of teeth that could rival Luffy's. "Let's see what else I can do!"

**Time Break**

Maria spent the rest of the afternoon working with Luffy and Franky on her fiery abilities, helping her learn more about what exactly it was that she was capable of. Occasionally, the amnesiac insisted on getting a break so that she could check on her Berry trees, but there was never anything wrong with them.

"It's weird," Maria commented, coming back down to join the others on the main deck. "Normally, there would be a lot of weeds that would have sprouted up by now. I don't see any, though."

"It could be cause we're out at sea," Franky commented. "I mean, there really isn't anywhere for weeds to grow out here unless we pass by a ship that has plants on it."

"Maybe...but I still can't help but feel uneasy about it." Maria rubbed her left arm with her right in a somewhat nervous fashion. "It just doesn't feel right with me just making sure that my plants have enough water. I should be doing something else, too."

"Don't worry about it!" Luffy complained loudly. "Come on! I want to see you do some more cool stuff!"

"Dinner!"

Before the word was even out of Sanji's mouth, the Straw Hat dashed over to the door that led to the galley and disappeared inside.

"Well, looks like that's the end of that," Maria commented dryly.

"You said it," Franky agreed. The two of them quickly moved in order to get into the galley before Luffy ate everything that there was to eat, leaving the deck completely clear.

**Time Break -- Zoro's POV**

Dinner came and went in a flash, and afterwards Maria disappeared into the girl's quarters for some insisted reading time, considering that she hadn't been able to get at her books all day. Robin ended up following her inside, leaving the other members of the crew to scatter about the deck in the twilight hours, Nami issuing orders as to who was going to take watch in order to make sure they weren't blindsided by enemy ships coming in from out of nowhere. Usopp, much to the others' amusement, ended up getting one of the watches that night, right after Luffy. The sniper tried to get out of staying up during the "witching hour," but unfortunately, the navigator would have none of it.

"Just come and wake up Zoro if you see anything," Nami had said. "Besides, we're in a pretty calm stretch of sea right now, considering how the Grand Line is. If any Marines or other pirates end up showing up, you'll be able to see them from a mile off."

Usopp bit his lower lip, looking somewhat nervous at the idea, but he said nothing in order to get the brunt of Nami's fists.

Personally, Zoro was glad that he was going to be able to get at least _some_ sleep tonight. He'd been taking watches a lot more often than the others had before they'd arrived at Water 7, considering how they'd landed right in the middle of a Marine base after leaving Skypeia, and he was looking forward to a full night of rest for a change.

However, that didn't exactly turn out to be the case. Like it or not, the swordsman ended up finding himself lying out on the grass under the swing tree, snoring loudly in the calm of the clear night.

At least, until he heard a door creaking open.

Zoro opened one eye at the sound of a door opening, and he caught sight of a figure stepping out of the girl's quarters before the door was shut behind them. The swordsman opened his other eye as he watched the figure -- clearly one of the girls -- make her way over to the slide and stumble down it, ending in a surprisingly graceful roll before coming to a kneeling stop.

It took the swordsman only a second in the starlight to see that the girl who had come out was Maria.

The green-haired teen shifted his position under the swing tree so that he could get a better look at what Maria was doing out on deck. The only reason _he'd_ come out was because of how noisy the others had been getting, and Zoro did _not_ want to be called "Moss-Head" by Sanji in his sleep again. Getting it by day was bad enough, but when the cook was sleeptalking while Zoro was trying to get used to actually sleeping in a bed on a new ship?

The swordsman was seriously considering taking one of his swords and shaving off half the cook's hair with it, but that would have ended up badly -- for the sword. There's no way that something of his would ever be used to trim somebody's hair.

Maria got up from her kneeling position and relaxed her hold on her chest, revealing that she was holding onto what looked like a book of some kind. The amnesiac looked down at the cover for a moment before looking up at the dark sky. "Maybe now, I can figure out the constellations...."

Constellations? The swordsman blinked a couple times before frowning curiously at the amnesiac. Why was she so interested in that mythical mumbo-jumbo? Those were just stars -- why did people like to go hunting for pictures up there in the first place?

"Let's see...." Maria opened up the book in her hands, and Zoro was barely able to catch sight of the cover because of how it was angled...it looked almost like some kind of tree or something....

" 'It's said of some stars that they are not simply globes of light shining in the heavens, but that they're also worlds like this one, little islands trapped in a never-ending black sea that stretches far beyond the reach of any one man'," Maria read aloud, a curious frown coming over her face. " 'This book was written to not only give the reader insight into the stars and the stories behind the shapes they make with each passing time of year, but also to point out possible locations of other worlds that may have been touched by one of the more neutral forms of magic....' "

Zoro scowled. Magic? Other planets? What kind of idiot wrote a book like that? There was no way stuff like that could exist, if they already had Devil Fruits.

...Then again, if other planets did exist and the people on them somehow found a way in order to get to the Grand Line...well, Zoro was going to let his swords do the talking.

Maria gave the book a curious frown. "Magic? Other worlds? That sounds like something out of a fairy tale...." She looked up at the stars for a moment before glancing back at her book. "Then again...aren't most constellations made up because of stories like that? It would be good background for stuff like that, at least." The amnesiac settled into a sitting position, her back against the wall below the deck railing as she looked up at the stars again before looking down at the book on her lap. As she was looking down, however, her eyes ended up locking with the swordsman's.

Maria's eyes widened, and Zoro watched with his usual expression as a blush made its way across the amnesiac's face. "Oops. Sorry if my reading disturbed you, Zoro."

The swordsman grunted. "Better than that damn cook." He closed his eyes again and shifted his position against the tree as he tried to get back to sleep.

Unnoticed by him, Maria gave a sigh of relief and started reading again, her eyes scanning the pages with an almost curious hunger to them.


	50. Myths and..."Fishermen?"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I was following the anime when I wrote this a few years ago, so we're gonna have some filler arcs thrown in this on top of everything else -- just to let you know!

When Maria woke up the next morning, Zoro wasn't under the swing tree and the sun had already gotten up past the horizon. And Robin was standing near Maria with an expression of amusement on her face.

"Enjoying the book, Maria?" Robin asked, causing Maria to jump and look from the swing tree to the archeologist.

Maria gave a nod. "Yeah. There's a lot of stuff in it on the constellations, and also a couple that I'm familiar with, too." The amnesiac gained a strange look for a moment before snorting in amusement. "The author even claimed that there were other worlds out there, and that the Pokemon live on a separate planet from this one! Can you believe that?"

"People can believe strange things when they're recording so-called myths," Robin commented in reply. "However, I have found some historians who have attested to the existence of other worlds and having been to them. Would you believe that it's believed there is a series of worlds all connected together by hidden passageways through the stars?"

"Eh? Really?" Maria gave the archeologist a curious expression. "How does that even work?" The amnesiac blinked a couple times before frowning. "And...do you think it's possible that other worlds beyond this one could exist?"

Robin gained a thoughtful expression, but before she could answer, Luffy suddenly came dashing over carrying a large fishing pole, followed closely by Usopp, who was holding yet another fishing pole of equal size.

"Hi, Maria!" Luffy greeted, vaulting over Maria and landing on the deck railing behind him. "What are you sitting there for? Do you want to go fishing with us?"

"I bet I've got an extra fishing pole somewhere," Usopp added, grinning.

"Perhaps we should go and find a place that's a little more silent for our conversation?" Robin suggested from where she was standing with an expression of amusement.

Maria blinked a couple times, then gave a slight nod. She started to get to her feet, glancing back at the two boys. "Maybe some other time?"

Luffy pouted. "But fishing is so much fun!"

"Look at it this way, Luffy," Usopp spoke up. "This way we won't have any competition for the biggest fish!"

"Right!" Luffy plopped down onto the deck railing and cast out quickly, Usopp doing the same thing with a knowing expression on his face that clearly held amusement.

Maria gave a laugh, then followed Robin over to the cabin. The amnesiac's gaze wandered upwards to the tangerine trees on the top of the cabin, and her eyes widened a moment later.

"You mind waiting for me down in the room with the aquarium?" Maria asked, looking over at Robin. "I want to check on my Berry trees and make sure they're all right."

"Of course." Robin gave a soft smile, then turned and disappeared into the lower deck of the cabin while Maria ran upstairs to the roof above the cabin.

When Maria reached the dirt plots that were at the top of the cabin, the sight that greeted her was one that she had -- and hadn't -- been expecting.

Sure, the Berry plants had gotten bigger and had grown berries, but they had managed to arrange themselves so that they wouldn't overcrowd...and something told Maria that the Berry trees weren't going to go away anytime soon.

"These look sturdier than I remember them being," Maria commented, frowning down at the Berry trees. Her blue eyes scanned the row of trees closest to her, and she slowed to a stop on a tree that bore blue, round berries that looked something like miniature oranges. "Well, at least the Berries are ripe on some of them."

The amnesiac turned and grabbed the brown backpack that she had left sitting out the day before -- after Nami had insisted on taking it and washing it thoroughly, of course. Maria quickly moved in order to pluck the small blue fruits off the Berry tree, placing them inside the brown backpack before moving up and down the other trees and inspecting them for their fruits. It didn't take her too long in order to find out which ones had fruits and which ones were still growing to regular size.

Berries picked, Maria looked over the trees that she had gone over already while giving all of them a quick drink from her water sprinkler...and she frowned in complete confusion when she saw that the Berry bushes hadn't started to weaken or fade at all.

"Well, it _looks_ like they're going to be sticking around...." Maria bit her lower lip. "But just in case, I'm going to keep at least one of the berries of each kind separate with each crop, so I can have a failsafe."

The amnesiac quickly retreated from the top of the cabin and moved over to the second deck, where she disappeared into the girl's cabin with the brown backpack and her book. Dropping off one of each of the different berries she had harvested -- the blue, orange-like Berry; two Berries that looked like different kind of cherries; a pink, heart-shaped cherry; some kind of purple one that looked like a tree; a yellow Berry with a hard shell, a blue strawberry and what looked like a pink jalapeño.

"The fact that I managed to get eight Berries off each of those trees is pretty incredible," Maria commented in some amazement, glancing over her crop for a moment before closing up the backpack. "At least, since I'm so close to them this time around, I won't have to worry about losing any of the berries to bugs or something."

Maria exited the girl's quarters, then slipped down to the galley, where she ended up running into Sanji working furiously in the kitchen on something.

"Sanji?" the amnesiac called as she closed the door behind her.

"Yes, Maria-san?" Sanji glanced up and looked over at the brown-haired teen as she walked over to the counter he was standing near.

"I've got our first Berry crop," Maria stated, lifting up the brown backpack and grinning. "There should be enough in here to make the more basic sauces that are in that recipe book."

A delighted expression crossed the cook's face, and he quickly took the backpack and opened it before looking inside at its contents. "Perfect! I've been looking forward to trying those new recipes!" He gave a delighted smile to Maria, who was standing there with a large grin on her face at Sanji's reaction. "Thank you, Maria-san!"

"It was no problem!" Maria responded, chuckling. "I'm heading down to the aquarium dining room to talk to Robin about something."

"Let me accompany you." Sanji quickly moved to put the food item he had been working with into a nearby, small fridge with a ridiculously large padlock. "I don't want Luffy to attack the snacks I have planned for you, Robin-chan, and Nami-swan!"

"I don't think you're going to have a problem with that. He and Usopp are actually fishing right now."

Sanji closed the fridge and locked it before hiding the key to the lock in a pocket on the inside of his vest. "Maybe he'll catch something that we'll be able to use later. It'll certainly help, considering that we have that aquarium on board."

Sanji calmly led Maria out onto the main deck for a moment before opening another door and disappearing into a different room, where the aquarium could clearly be seen as more of a wall-window of sorts in the fancy dining room that Franky had added. Not that it was being used as a dining room at the moment.

Robin looked up from the book in her hands as Maria and Sanji arrived in the room -- the amnesiac still holding onto her book about astronomy and without a brown backpack slung over one shoulder. She smiled at the two of them in greeting.

"I'll be right back with snacks," Sanji announced. He quickly turned and disappeared from the room while Maria walked over to the long couch that stretched around the aquarium side of the room.

"So, you wanted to talk to me about the possibility of other worlds existing, right?" the blue-eyed amnesiac asked as she sat down next to the archeologist.

"Not so much the possibility as the myths surrounding the idea," Robin replied, patting the closed book that was sitting on her lap.

"Myths?" Maria repeated, frowning slightly.

"Indeed. For instance, the cover of the book in your hands."

The amnesiac looked down at the tree that was on the cover of the astronomy book, a frown flitting across her face. "What about it?"

"There's a myth that's been passed down among some families in the North Blue that claims that our planet is part of the fruits of a giant tree." Robin tapped the cover of the book meaningfully. "It's believed that there are other fruits on this tree, as well."

"You mean...other planets, right?" Maria looked at the archeologist with a curious frown.

"Correct. However, if there was any sort of trick to passing between these different worlds, it has been cut off for one reason or another -- the stories vary depending on what islands you come across in the North Blue. Most storytellers agree on some kind of disaster that cut the worlds off from each other except for the few warriors who are allowed through."

"Warriors?" Maria's frown deepened in confusion. "Something about that seems...kinda familiar for some reason."

"I thought it might."

Maria looked up at Robin with increased confusion. "What do you mean?"

"I mean that, among these myths, it's said that each warrior had a special weapon or power that identified them as being capable of crossing between worlds. No one knew where the power came from, other than the simple idea that it appeared during times of great distress. They were identified by the strange weapons they carried with them, usually with some kind of magical creature carved into them."

Maria's eyebrows shot up. "Magical creatures?"

Robin gave a nod. "Most warriors carried swords, but one or two would have staffs with the creatures carved into the wood like some kind of tattoo."

Maria held out her right hand, and she summoned her phoenix staff, looking at the head of it with no small amount of confusion. "Do you think my weapon would be counted among them like that?"

"Perhaps. I'm more of an expert on actual history than the myths and legends that are spread throughout the world."

Maria made a nervous humming noise, frowning at her phoenix staff. There was something about all of this that was making her extremely uneasy for some reason, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was that was making her feel that way.

"Something about all this...." Maria motioned between the staff and the book, frowning. "It makes me feel uneasy for some reason." She looked over at Robin, who had something of an interested expression on her face. "Maybe, if you tell me more about these myths, I'll be able to sort my feelings out?"

Robin gave a nod. "Myths like what the book is describing are actually rather common among the Four Blues, where people don't tend to travel between islands all that often. I've heard that some believe that there are locations here on the Grand Line that are connected to other worlds in the strangest way possible. Considering that we saw an event with something called the Rainbow Mist, I don't see why that couldn't be possible, either."

Maria cocked her head and frowned slightly in confusion. "Rainbow Mist?"

Before Robin could explain what that meant, Sanji came whirling back in with a tray with what looked like a tea set and a steaming pot.

"You two ladies look like you're thirsty!" the cook declared, coming over to a table near the couch and setting down the trays. He took the tea pot and poured out its contents into two cups, which he handed to the two sitting on the cough.

"Thank you, Sanji," Robin stated, accepting the cup that was handed to her.

Maria gave a nod as she accepted her own cup, then tentatively took a sip of the tea inside. It tasted pretty strange, for a drink -- kind of a strange, unidentifiable taste, but it was something that the amnesiac could handle drinking.

That did not mean, however, that she was willing to drink it repeatedly.

"I thought I'd find you down here!" Franky suddenly appeared in the doorway and walked over to where Robin and Maria were sitting. The cyborg strode over and lounged on the couch next to Robin, looking mighty pleased with himself.

Sanji quickly pulled out another cup and poured some tea into it, handing it off to Franky and sending the cyborg a rather dry look before turning on his heel and walking out without another word.

"Were you two talking about those books that you're reading?" Franky guessed, motioning to the books that Maria and Robin had on their laps.

"More like myths on other worlds," Maria corrected. "And whether they exist or not."

"Other worlds?" Franky lifted his glasses up and looked around Robin to give Maria a curious look. "Since when?"

"Since my book talks about them in between pages about the constellations." Maria lifted up her book, as though that was proof enough.

"Really? Well, I've heard some rumors, but I don't really think that stuff like that exists. I mean, if it did, wouldn't the World Government have found out something about that by now?"

"If they did, I doubt that they would tell the rest of the world about their discovery." Robin stood up and moved across the room a short distance, taking a seat next to the giant pillar that went through the center of the room. "After all, they are keeping the true history of the Void Century well-hidden."

"She does have a point," Maria remarked. A frown came over her face. "Still...other worlds with people living on them...it doesn't exactly seem to be possible."

Before any one of them could say anything else, there came a sudden splashing noise from behind them. Maria and Franky turned their heads in surprise upon hearing the noise.

Maria's eyes widened while Franky's sunglasses fell back over his eyes.

"Seems we have a new guest," Robin commented, glancing over at the creature that had suddenly been thrust into the water of the aquarium. "A shark."

"Yeah, no kidding," Maria agreed, her eyes moving to the other fish that were in the tank with the gilled hunter of the seas. "I don't think I've seen one with horns or a scale pattern like that before...even among Pokemon...."

"So, this room perfect or what?" Franky asked, turning to look at Maria and Robin.

"The room is fine," Sanji replied, reappearing with a tray of what looked like snacks of the dessert kind. "But don't those idiots know that a shark's a bad idea?"

As if on cue, some of the fish in the tank started to swim closer to the shark, who looked like he was stunned. That was quickly changed, however, as the blue-and-white sea creature seemed to take notice of the smaller morsels in front of it. Opening its mouth wide, it chomped down and swallowed the fish whole.

Maria let out a yelp of surprise and jumped off the couch, staring at the shark in surprise. "Talk about appetite!"

"Hey! Have you seen the shark yet? It's the one with the big horns!" Luffy and Usopp came barreling into the room, grinning like maniacs.

"Yes," Robin responded, looking over at the two. "It's an interesting specimen. Unfortunately, it doesn't play well with others."

"I think that's putting it mildly, Robin," Maria gulped, motioning to the now-fat shark that was swimming lazily around the now-empty aquarium tank.

Luffy and Usopp both gained wide eyes as they yelled in alarm at the sight that greeted their eyes.

"What did you think was gonna happen?!" Sanji barked at the two of them. "Don't you know how the food chain works, you idiots?!"

"Stupid shark!" Luffy barked. "I'm gonna eat you for doing that! Sanji, turn this bastard into a barbecue dinner!"

"You can't barbecue everything," the cook responded irritably. "This is fresh fish we're talking about."

"Besides, don't sharks tend to taste pretty bad, no matter how you prepare them?" Maria spoke up, frowning.

"Not if it's sushi," Sanji insisted. "We could boil it and add some spicy vinegar. And maybe...." After a moment, he gave a nod. "We're having shark tonight."

"Whoo-hoo!" Luffy declared loudly, grinning.

Maria simply sighed and shook her head.

Sanji disappeared and reappeared moments later with three glasses of some kind of green juice, handing off two to Luffy and Usopp (while giving them both neutral glares) before he turned on his heel and handed Maria one, exchanging the cup of tea in her hands for the glass.

"I saw the expression on your face," Sanji explained. "Perhaps this will be more to your liking, Maria-san."

Maria looked up at the cook, blinking a couple times before taking the straw in the glass and sucking up enough for a good tasting mouthful. The flavor that exploded in her mouth was enough to get the amnesiac to take a long gulp of the juice before looking up at Sanji with amazement.

"This is delicious!" Maria exclaimed.

Sanji nearly melted right there on the spot from Maria's praise, but Luffy's snickering stopped him short.

"This ship is amazing!" Luffy commented as Sanji moved to stand somewhere between Maria and Robin. "Thank you for making it so awesome, Franky."

"It is pretty awesome, isn't it?" Franky agreed, smirking. "And what you've seen isn't the best part. I've got lots to show ya!"

"Really? Like what?" Luffy's question drowned out most of the sound of Usopp sucking his glass dry.

Maria gave the cyborg an interested look, as well, cocking her head out of curiosity.

"Well, it's greatest feature is called the Soldier Dock System," Franky explained.

"Soldier Dock?" Maria repeated, frowning slightly.

"The bottom of the ship is equipped with five docking stations, numbered from zero to four. Each dock has something unique to offer depending on the situation, so no matter what trouble you get the _Thousand Sunny_ into, I guarantee we got a solution."

Maria blinked a couple times as she took this in, wondering what exactly the Dock System had that Franky was so sure about.

"Whoa!" Luffy yelped. "Show 'em to me! Show 'em to me!"

"All in due time." Franky waved off Luffy's excited expression. "When the situation calls for it, you'll see 'em in action. If I told you all of 'em now, it'd spoil the surprise."

"Boo!" Luffy and Usopp exclaimed together while Maria deflated from disappointment. She had been looking forward to hearing about what it was that Franky had hidden under the ship!

Robin let out a laugh. "I look forward to it."

"Does that mean you want to get us in trouble or you want him to show off?" Maria countered, looking over at the woman curiously.

If Robin was going to answer, she never did, because Luffy suddenly got up from his seat and dashed for the door.

"Whoa! Look, guys! Snow!!" Luffy ran out onto the deck and started jumping up and down eagerly.

"Snow?" Maria repeated in surprise as Usopp quickly dashed out of the room after their captain, laughing in delight. The amnesiac could remember the white, fluffy substance almost vaguely at the back of her mind, mixed in among the memories that she had managed to recover.

"Out at sea?" Maria frowned in confusion.

"It isn't really all that odd," Robin spoke up in a calm manner. "Strange weather events like this take place on the Grand Line all the time."

"Really?"

"Zoro, what's wrong with you?! You're a terrible lookout!" Luffy yelled out on the main deck. "When it starts snowing, you need to do this!"

"Attention!" Usopp yelled in a voice that was an octave lower than usual. "All hands! Attention, all hands! It's snowing -- I repeat: it's snowing!"

"Is he listening?" Luffy demanded. "What a moron!"

Maria got up from her seat and finished off her drink with a final, loud sip before following the two boys out onto the deck, a curious expression on her face. Sure enough, falling from the sky around them, was a mass of little, fluffy white flakes that landed on Maria's head and arms before melting into cold patches.

"Zoro's an idiot!" Luffy and Usopp declared together in sing-song voices.

"Maybe he's taking a nap up there," Maria spoke up from where she was standing behind the two.

"If he is, then I'm gonna wake him up and tell him he's an idiot!" Luffy declared with a wicked grin.

"Look at that...it's been a long time."

Maria turned her head upon hearing Chopper's voice, and she caught sight of him coming out a door on the upper deck. It looked like their doctor was in awe of the snow falling from the sky.

_Of course; he's a reindeer. Creatures like that are known to live in colder climates. He grew up with snow._

"It's beautiful!" the little reindeer declared as Sanji came out onto the deck. "I hope it piles up high!"

"Then we could have a snowball fight," Maria spoke up, the two words coming together at the back of her mind like an old friend.

"Yeah!" Luffy piped up in agreement, grinning hugely.

"I should probably prepare us something warm for dinner," the cook commented before turning around and disappearing into the aquarium again.

Luffy and Usopp exchanged looks as the cook disappeared, then dashed off somewhere with Chopper, leaving Maria to stand on the deck, letting the snow collect on her head and shoulders.

"It feels like forever since I've seen snow," Maria commented, looking up at the sky with an expression of total awe. She saw a flake drifting toward her and opened her mouth, taking the white drop of sky out of the air and feeling the cold dissolve on her tongue.

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper suddenly reappeared, carrying large sacks that they threw open, holding as wide as possible so that they could try and catch the snow that was falling from the sky.

No sooner had they done this than a familiar voice suddenly rang out above them.

 **"Hey! I see a ship!"** Zoro suddenly reported from the lookout through the loudspeaker. **"There's something strange about it, too."**

"Really?" Nami asked as she, Robin, and Franky came out onto the deck.

"So he _wasn't_ asleep," Maria commented to her captain.

"Where is it?" Nami asked, frowning.

**"A little ahead and to the right."**

Luffy, Usopp, and Chopper dropped their sacks and rushed to the side of the boat that Zoro had mentioned. Maria followed after them at a slower pace, a curious expression appearing there.

"Strange is right," Usopp commented, perched on the deck railing. "I don't see any kind of sail or flag."

Maria and the others came to a stop, all lined up along the edge of the deck. The amnesiac had a curious frown on her face as she looked at the wooden mass that was in the distance.

"It doesn't have a sail?" Nami asked from Maria's left. "So it's just sitting there, drifting around?"

"An abandoned ship?" Sanji guessed. "Creepy."

"I've heard stories that there's a strange game pirates play that takes away crew members," Franky spoke up from behind Maria. "It's called a Davy Back fight."

"Yeah, we know," came a unanimous, annoyed answer from the other Straw Hats.

Maria looked back and forth between the others in confusion. "This is the first time I've heard of it."

"And hopefully, it'll be your last," Nami responded through slightly gritted teeth.

"But wait," Chopper piped up from Maria's right. "Does that mean they took the crew's flag, too?"

Usopp leaned forward a little. "Oh, wait -- I see someone!"

The amnesiac looked over at the sniper with an expression of surprise. "Really?" She caught sight of the strange, lens-like device he was using to look out onto the sea and wondered if it was helping him look further out than he would have been able to otherwise.

"They're...fishing?" Usopp continued fiddling with the lens he had over one eye. "They might be castaways. They're pretty ragged and tired-looking."

Maria looked out over the ocean again at the ship ahead of them, a curious expression crossing her face.

"What do you think, Captain?" Sanji asked.

"Right. Let's go take a look." Luffy grinned. "If they're enemies, we'll just beat 'em up!"

"Even if they're tired?" Maria spoke up, looking over at her captain and frowning.

"Looks can be deceiving sometimes," Robin commented with a knowing expression on her face.

The members of the crew scattered, moving over to the wheel that turned the rudder and pulling the sails so that the ship could shift over in the direction of the sail-less ship. Maria ended up moving from the side of the ship up to the wheel with Sanji, where she stood next to the deck railing with her eyes glued on the ship.

"What kind of people are on the ship, do you think?" Maria asked, glancing back at the cook.

"Hard to say," Sanji responded, shrugging. "If they're people who don't like us, then we can always go and beat them."

"What if they outnumber us and are stronger than us?"

"Don't worry so much, Maria-san. I'll be able to protect you."

A slight, worried frown flickered across Maria's face, but she didn't say anything else.

Luffy dashed past Sanji and Maria before jumping up onto the figurehead. Waving his hands above his head, he called, "Hey! Are you guys okay over there?"

"Th-they're pirates!" came a yelp from below. "Pirates are here!"

Panicked yells came from the deck of the ship below, which Maria could now see clearly was missing its sail and any sort of identifying flag.

"Looks like that ship's suffered from some damage," Maria commented, a curious expression on her face.

Sanji came over to stand next to the amnesiac and peered down from where they stood to the right of the figurehead. "Yeah. Wonder what could have happened."

Meanwhile, people on the ship were yelling in a panic.

"We'd better run for it!"

"There isn't any wind!"

"We don't have a sail anyway!"

Then there came a unanimous cry of: "We surrender! Spare our lives!"

Sanji frowned in confusion. "Luffy just said he was going to help those idiots, not attack them."

Maria leaned forward a little, looking down at the ship in front of them. "Do you think we can go aboard and talk with them to let them know we don't want to hurt anybody?"

"Well, I definitely want to have a look at that ship," Franky commented, coming over to where the cook and the amnesiac were standing. He jumped up onto the railing before leaping across the gap between the two ships.

Maria ended up jumping back in surprise when a green, black, and white blur suddenly dashed past her and jumped over onto the other ship. When the blur stopped moving, the amnesiac saw Zoro standing on a wooden wall of the other ship.

The amnesiac blinked a couple times before moving forward and looking down at the stretch of sea that was between the ships. She looked over at Sanji, who was now standing with one leg on the deck railing and looking down at the other ship with a guarded expression.

"I kinda want to go down there," Maria commented, glancing over at the ship below. "But I don't know if I can make the jump."

"You could hold onto me, Maria-san," Sanji suggested. "I could get you down there."

Maria instantly took the cook's suggestion and wrapped her arms around him. Sanji stiffened up for a moment before letting out a noise that clearly made it sound like he was pleased. A moment later, the amnesiac could feel his muscles tightening up before the cook launched himself into the air and easily crossed the gap with the teenager holding onto him.

They landed easily on the deck, and Maria, delighted that she was able to get down to the other ship, unwrapped her arms from around Sanji and took a look around. She caught sight of a disappointed expression on the cook's face, but that quickly passed when he started to look around the ship while Luffy and Robin landed nearby.

"Man, your ship's in bad shape," Franky commented, looking around. "It's even worse off than you guys are."

Maria let her gaze move around the deck and saw all the damage that had been scoured into the wood. "Looks...kinda like how the Merry did. Except without all the patches." The amnesiac glanced up at Zoro, who was still standing on the deck railing like some kind of bird of prey looking for a suitable target.

"It's really taken a beating," Franky stated, nodding in agreement.

"I'm going to go get some food together," Sanji muttered, turning back around to look at the Sunny. He quickly jumped up and disappeared from sight.

"Who are you?" Luffy asked, arms folded across his chest. "And what are you doing out here?"

"Oh! Uh..." The man who had spoken -- a short guy with a helmet with short horns -- hesitated for a moment. "We're just a bunch of fishermen, down on our luck."

"Fisherman?" Franky repeated.

Maria frowned. Like the shipwright, she was feeling skeptical about all this.

"Y-yeah." The short man nodded nervously. "We were just minding our own business when our ship was attacked! That was three days ago." He sniffled. "They stole all our food, destroyed the helm and sails, took all our valuables, and left us here to die! We were stranded!"

"So," spoke up a second fisherman sitting on the deck nearby, "if you're here to attack us, there's nothing left to take."

"Don't worry about it," Luffy commented, grinning. "You guys must be pretty hungry, right? We're planning on having dinner soon. Why don't you come over and join us?"

"What?!" came the unanimous response from those on the deck of the partially-wrecked ship.

Maria looked over at her captain in surprise for a moment before looking back at the fisherman, blinking somewhat in confusion. "What? Luffy asked if you guys were all right, not if you had anything valuable aboard."

"Seriously?" the short man piped up.

"Are you sure?" asked a bald man in green overalls.

"Yeah! Our cook would never ignore anyone as hungry as you guys!" Luffy's grin got a little wider. "Eat all you want to."

"So long as we don't end up running out of anything," Maria commented under her breath. "I don't think that my Berries would last us too long if we ran out of everything else."

"Hey, Sanji!" Luffy turned his head to look back at the Sunny. "Is it ready yet?"

"Almost -- just a few more minutes!" Sanji called back. "Before all of that -- hey, Chopper! How about you check all of these guys over to break in that new office?"

Maria glanced back at the Sunny upon hearing Sanji's suggestion. "New office? I guess I haven't been able to explore enough on the ship...."

"If anyone's injured or feeling sick, come along with me!" Chopper called from the ship.

The short man let out a yelp in surprise.

"Is there anyone on the ship that can't move?" Chopper added.

"Holy crap, their pet can talk!" the short man yelped.

"He's not a pet!" Maria responded quickly, frowning as she placed her hands on her hips. "He's our doctor!"

"And a pirate!" Chopper roared, suddenly shifting to Heavy Point. "I've got a bounty of 50 Beris!" He repeated his bounty a moment later in a whimper.

Maria gave a sigh and shook her head. "Dalton thinks it's a mistake, remember? At least there's that."

"Here--let me throw something together so that you guys can get up to the ship more easily," Franky spoke up quickly. "Shouldn't take too long to get a set of stairs put together." The cyborg quickly jumped up and disappeared from sight on the upper deck while the members of the fishing crew looked at each other in complete befuddlement.

Luffy gave a delighted laugh. "Thanks, Franky! I don't think I'd be able to get them all up at once!"

"We don't want you to do anything like that!" Zoro barked down. "Do you want to kill them before we get them to the cook?"

The fishermen flinched when they heard Zoro's annoyed voice, but none of them said anything that might end up adding to the statement the swordsman had made.

"Uh...." Maria looked up at Zoro for a moment, then looked back at the fishermen. "You guys don't need to be so nervous about Zoro. I think he's just a bit...tense."

The fishermen looked at each other when they heard Maria say this; the swordsman simply grunted.


	51. Unusual Crew, Suspicious Brew

True to Franky's word, he somehow managed to put together something that looked like an elaborate staircase that led from the Sunny's deck to the deck of the fishermen's ship. As soon as that was in place, Luffy somehow managed to get all of the men up onto the deck, where Chopper dragged them into his new office.

"Your deck is a lawn?!" the short man exclaimed in surprise as he came up.

Maria, who was following them up after Luffy and Robin, gave a sigh and shook her head. "He seems to be easily startled by things."

"Well, I doubt that a crew of fishermen down on their luck would have expected a pirate crew to come to their aid," Robin commented in reply. "Most pirate crews are notorious for their more violent tendencies."

Maria hummed in response to this. "Still, it makes you wonder...is our ship the only ship that carries a lawn on the main deck?"

"I believe so."

Maria and Robin walked over to the galley and slipped inside, followed closely behind by Franky.

"Maria-san! Robin-chwan!" Sanji called out from the kitchen. "Have a seat! Dinner will be ready soon!"

"Thanks," Maria replied, taking the seat that she had started to consider hers. Franky and Robin followed suit in different locations on the table.

Maria quietly looked down at her orange jacket while she listened to Sanji work his magic in the kitchen. The amnesiac felt like she wanted to do something with her hands for some reason, but she had left her books back in the girls' cabin -- and the aquarium room.

Maria decided that she was going to need to go and remedy that later.

"I can't help but feel that there's something fishy about those fishermen," Franky commented, frowning. "I mean, that ship doesn't look like it's made for that kind of thing."

Maria shot a curious look over at the shipwright. "You think so?"

"Yup. I've seen plenty of ships, and that one isn't one that I think a bunch of fishermen would take as their own. Most fishermen stay close to their home islands, too -- they keep it on the horizon."

"And we haven't seen an island in the area, right?" the amnesiac guessed. "Because I haven't seen one; have you guys?"

"I certainly haven't," Robin noted thoughtfully.

Franky shook his head. "Neither have I."

"So...what does that mean?" Maria frowned.

"It means that there's something going on that we might not know about," Sanji responded, coming over with a couple steaming bowls of what looked like soup before adding salads and small loves of bread.

As the cook was putting down the bowls, Luffy and Usopp came barreling in, followed by Nami, Zoro and the fishermen that had come over from the other ship.

Sanji was quick to hand off other bowls of soup, directing the fishermen to sit down on a bench that was on one side of the room. The cook then retreated back to the kitchen while the rest of the crew started eating.

Maria picked up a spoon and took a sip of the soup, pleased to discover that it was both warm and delicious. The amnesiac moved to swallow more of the soup, feeling the warm liquid move down her throat and hit her stomach while its warmth moved outward into the rest of her body.

That's when the amnesiac heard what sounded like sniffling. Her blue eyes moved up from the bowl of soup, and she caught sight of the fishermen crying their eyes out while they were eating the soup at high speed.

"Uh...." Maria blinked a couple times when she saw the group of men weeping like babies. "What's up with them?"

"Delicious! This is amazing, Mr. Eyebrows Cook!" the short man proclaimed between sips.

"S-so good!" added one of the larger fishermen. Anything else that he said was garbled because of his tears.

"What big babies," Nami muttered from where she sat next to Robin. "Geez."

Robin let out a slight laugh, clearly amused.

"Do people who haven't had Sanji's cooking usually act like this?" Maria asked, looking at the fishermen with an expression of curiosity.

"You didn't," the navigator responded, looking over at the amnesiac with a pointed expression.

Maria shrugged. "I said usually. I don't know if I'm technically usual. Considering my amnesia and the Berries I pulled out of nowhere."

Nami opened her mouth to respond, then frowned while Robin chuckled again.

The little man looked up, and let out a yelp. "And beautiful pirate ladies, too!"

"O-oh! You're right! They're so beautiful, I can't stop the tears!"

"It seems you're right about them," Robin commented, chuckling.

Zoro suddenly slammed his bowl down on the table, causing Maria to look to her right at the swordsman.

"But I wish they wouldn't cry so loud," Nami muttered, glaring back at the fishermen.

Zoro grabbed his wooden mug and swallowed down its contents, letting out what sounded like a gasp as he took in a breath of air before reaching for something else.

"So, where are you guys from?" Luffy asked, looking over at the fishermen. "We're trying to get to Fish-Man Island so that we can get to the New World, and if we knew how close we were, that'd be a great help!"

"What?!" the short man gasped, dropping his soup bowl. "You're heading for the New World?"

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," the tall man in green overalls commented. "I won't go into details, but that place is hell!"

Maria blinked in surprise upon hearing the man say that, blinking a couple times in confusion.

"Hey, wait -- you mean you guys have been there?" Luffy asked in curiosity.

"Ehh...no," the short man responded, relaxing somewhat.

"We've just heard stuff about it is all," the taller man added quickly. "From other sailors. They said it was a terrible place."

"Idiots," a man with sunglasses muttered under his breath.

Maria turned to look in the man's direction, raising an eyebrow upon hearing that. She exchanged glances with Franky, who had a slight frown on his face behind his sunglasses.

"I don't care about stories like that," Luffy responded, grinning. "We won't know whether it's hell or not unless we go." He laughed.

"Besides, sometimes stuff like this is over exaggerated, right?" Maria spoke up.

"Yeah! Shishishishishishi!"

Just then, there came the sound of something colliding with something else outside, causing everyone to look up from their food and at the door that led outside.

"What's going on?" Maria asked as Zoro and Luffy got up from their seats.

"I'm gonna find out," the swordsman replied in a low growl. He started for the door, the others following after him in a curious procession.

Luffy threw the door open and stepped out into the cool night air, looking around with a curious expression while Zoro stood in the doorway. Maria, who happened to be right on his heels, stood on her tip-toes in order to look over the swordsman's shoulder.

"Oh! Hey there, friend!" came a voice from the main deck. "You really saved us with that food, so I wanted to do something to thank you!"

Zoro moved out of the doorway as he and the others moved out into the cool night air. Maria caught sight of a figure standing on the lawn below: a muscular man who the amnesiac hadn't seen before, but her eyes kept going to the yellow spike of hair on top of his head and the too-wide grin that was on his face.

"The name's Stansen, and under current circumstances, I'm acting as captain." The man lifted the large barrel in front of him with one hand and tossed it up to the pirates.

Maria let out a yelp and instinctively ducked as the barrel came flying towards them, but Zoro caught it easily with one hand.

"It's a special drink we save for times like this," Stansen explained, still grinning. "Enjoy yourselves!"

"Thanks!" Zoro responded with a grin.

Maria got up from where she had ducked, and she looked at the barrel with a cautious expression. "A drink?" She frowned, thinking back to the party that had happened their first night on the ship. "I think I'll pass, thanks. That stuff should be probably be drunk occasionally, not every hour on the hour."

Zoro glanced over at Maria, then gave a shrug. "Your loss." He then turned and walked into the galley with the barrel over his shoulder, the others following on his heels.

"Are you sure you don't want it?" Stansen asked as he came up the stairs towards where they were disappearing into the galley. "It's really good."

"No thanks." Maria stuck her tongue out. "Everything in moderation. I don't plan on getting addicted to something like that." With that, Maria walked back into the galley sat down where she had been a moment ago.

The amnesiac jumped a bit when Zoro sat down with a dull thud in his seat before tilting his head back.

Zoro finished off the mug in his hand. "Man, you're strange guys."

"Yeah," Usopp spoke up, lowering his own mug. "Seriously, you didn't have anything to eat, but you have tons of this stuff?"

"Y-yeah," Stansen replied from where he was sitting on the counter. "Anyway, this food is great! We're lucky to have run into you guys when we did! Especially way out here!"

Luffy gave a laugh at Stansen's statement. "It's no big deal."

"But it is!" Stansen argued. "If we were able to go back to where we came from, we'd be able to give you a better reward than this."

Maria paused mid-bite into a chunk of bread, frowning. Something was building up in her gut, but she wasn't sure what exactly it meant. However, she was starting to feel rather uneasy.

"You're not fooling anyone," Sanji spoke up from the kitchen. "Truth is, you want us to help you get there, don't you?"

"You got me!" Stansen looked back at the cook. "Is it that obvious?"

Luffy laughed. "Look, it's fine, we get it! We'll take you -- don't worry."

"You sure? Why, thank you!"

"Now, wait a minute, Luffy!" Nami spoke up. "If we change course now and don't go to Fish-Man Island, we're screwed!"

"We drop them off real quick, so it should be no problem, right?" Luffy pointed out.

Maria frowned at her captain before nodding in agreement. "It shouldn't be. I mean, all we have to do is get them off the ship and we'll be off, right?"

Luffy nodded. "Come on -- it'll be fine! It'll all work out in the end!"

Stansen laughed. "Your crew is lucky to have such an understanding captain. All right, then -- I place our care in your hands!"

**Time Break**

"I'd like to propose a toast in honor of your good fortune and journey back!" Usopp declared, raising his mug. "Here's to a safe return!"

"Yeah!" Luffy agreed, raising his own mug. "I'll drink to that!"

"Cheers!" came the unanimous cry...from everyone except for Maria and Sanji, that is.

Since the amnesiac didn't have a drink to toast with, she decided that it might be a better idea just to keep her mouth shut rather than raise an invisible mug. And the cook had already gone out to the helm to make sure that they were going in the direction that the fishermen had said their home was, and he had taken his mug with him.

After a couple minutes, Maria decided to get up and go back to the aquarium room to grab her astronomy book. If she was going to ever move it, now would probably be as good a time as any. The amnesiac slipped out of the room while the others were laughing with Stansen, her eyes giving the galley one last scan before she slipped out of sight.

"It's weird that most of the fishermen look nervous," Maria commented to herself, frowning. "Why would they look like that when their captain gave us the alcohol?" She quickly made her way down the stairs and disappeared into the aquarium room -- where the shark no longer was, much to Maria's surprise -- and sat down on the couch and grabbed her astronomy book.

"Maybe I can get some reading done before we get to wherever it is that these fishermen come from," Maria muttered to herself as she opened up the book and leaned back on the cushions.

_"In this first chapter, I will explain constellations that are oriented with most worlds in the same locations and with the same sort of history. Some constellations have different names depending on the culture the names oriented in, but their orientation in the sky and their shape are the same._

_"First, the Northern Cross, which was used by sailors of the past in order to find true north on the sea...."_

Maria heard something thunk outside the door of the room, and her head shot up, a wary expression coming over her face for a moment before the door opened, revealing who was standing on the other side.

The amnesiac blinked a couple times. "Hi, Franky? What's up?"

The cyborg walked into the room and closed the door behind him, pausing for a moment before speaking.

"That drink was drugged," the shipwright commented, coming over to sit next to Maria. "Probably some kind of sleeping drug or something."

Maria's eyes widened, and she sat upright in stiff surprise. "What? They drugged it?"

"Yup."

"B-but you drank some of that stuff! Why haven't you fallen asleep yet?" Maria blinked in confusion as she looked up at the cyborg.

"You know how I made my stomach into a fridge for my fuel?" Franky looked over at the amnesiac with a somewhat curious expression.

"Uh..." Maria gave a slight nod. "Yeah. But what does that have to do with anything?"

"I had to rework my entire digestive system when I was repairing myself, so it's going to take a bit for the stuff to actually affect me."

Maria gained a surprised expression. "Really?" A frown worked its way across her face. "But...how exactly is that possible?"

"You don't need to worry about it." Franky waved off Maria's questioning frown. "Point is, though, most everyone else is asleep, and we're gonna have to do something about those so-called fishermen. Since you're the only other one who's actually awake...."

_Awake...._

That word set off a number of alarm bells in Maria's head -- mainly ones that were connected to recent memories.

"That could be easily solved," the amnesiac stated quickly. "We need to get back to the galley -- there's some stuff there that I know we can use to wake the others up -- and make sure that _you_ don't fall asleep!"

"Really?" Franky raised an eyebrow skeptically.

"Yup. Come on." Maria got up from where she was sitting and started towards the door that led out onto the main deck, Franky following a short distance behind her.

The duo managed to get into the galley without running into the fishermen -- which Maria thought was odd, considering that they had been in the galley with the others or wandering around on deck a moment ago.

Maria started to look around the galley for a moment, frowning slightly as she saw Zoro, Usopp, Nami, and Luffy sleeping around the table -- two of the three boys sending puddles of drool to the floor. The amnesiac sighed before dashing into the kitchen.

"What are you looking for in there?" Franky asked. The cyborg let out a loud yawn almost as soon as he was done asking the question.

"Something that I gave Sanji this morning," Maria responded, not looking over at the cyborg. Her gaze went around the area, and then she caught sight of what she was looking for, stuffed into one corner of the counter space closest to the small fridge. "There it is! I hope there's still some Chesto Berries in here!"

"Berries?" Franky repeated in surprise. "How are those things going to help?"

"Well, besides making good dressings, sauces, and juices, Berries are used by Pokemon as natural medicines." Maria dropped the astronomy book on the counter, then dug into the brown backpack for a moment before pulling out what looked like a mini blue and purple tree. "Chesto Berries, for instance, work as a great way to wake somebody up. The trick is to get the person asleep to eat it." The amnesiac tossed the Berry over to Franky. "Go ahead. It'll probably take care of that drug problem you're starting to have."

"Thanks." Franky chomped down on the Berry, chewing it for a moment before swallowing it down. "Weird. Feels kinda dry."

"And it's not the only one that does," Maria responded, pulling out a few others from the backpack before looking over at the other people at the table. She blinked for a moment before turning to look back at the cyborg. "Where's Robin? I know Sanji's at the helm, but --"

"She's out there with him." Franky let out another yawn. "How long is it going to take for that thing to kick in?"

"Shouldn't be too much longer." Maria thrust two Berries into Franky's hands. "Here. Take these two out to Sanji and Robin and force it down their throats. It should wake them up."

"Yeah, sure." Franky grabbed the two Berries from Maria's hands, then turned and stepped out into the cold night air.

The amnesiac quickly turned and started grabbing more Berries from the brown backpack.

"Are you really sure that's going to work?" asked a slightly curious voice from behind Maria.

"Pretty sure," the amnesiac responded without looking back. "I mean, Berries are natural medicines, so it should be able to wake them up." Maria paused upon realizing that she had just answered someone's question, and she whirled around.

"How is it that you two're awake?!" Maria yelped, her eyes wide with surprise.

"This isn't the first time that something like this has happened," Zoro replied. The green-haired swordsman shook his head. "Seriously, what is with it with people drugging perfectly good drinks?"

"I don't think we'll ever know," Nami commented, sighing with an unhappy expression. She sent a glare over at Zoro. "You should probably get out there. No telling what's going to happen now unless we do something about those so-called fishermen."

Zoro glowered in the navigator's direction, then snorted and got to his feet and went over to the door of the galley, where he peered out the window.

"Nah. Those three should be able to handle it." The swordsman let out a yawn, then turned and walked back over to where he had been sitting a moment ago, folding his arms across his chest.

Maria scrambled over to the door and peered out the window herself, an expression of relief coming across her face when she saw Franky, Robin, and Sanji all staring down the "fishermen."

"All right!" the amnesiac declared, grinning.


	52. Marines, Doctors, and Fast Paddles

Maria moved away from the porthole in the door and turned to look over at Zoro and Nami, who had gotten up from her seat and was inspecting the four Chesto Berries that the amnesiac had left on the counter.

"So, now what?" Maria asked, looking between the two awake crewmembers.

"Now we see about waking those two bozos up," Nami replied, jabbing a thumb in the direction of Luffy and Usopp, who were still drooling on the table. "Are you sure these things are gonna work?" The navigator held up one of the Berries, sending it a suspicious look.

"Positive," Maria responded with a firm nod. "I've eaten them before when I've needed to do stuff at night. They work pretty well as a caffeine substitute when you're out in the middle of the woods." The amnesiac paused, frowning. "Not that I drink coffee...I think."

"Well, there's only one way to find out," Nami commented, turning to look at the two sleeping boys. "Zoro, give me a hand with these two."

"Why should I?" Zoro sent the navigator an annoyed glare, but when Nami's own glare intensified, the swordsman threw his hands in the air and got up from his seat, muttering something under his breath as he stomped over to Usopp.

Maria came in closer as Nami took the Chesto Berry in her hands and shoved it into Usopp's mouth.

"You're going to have to force him to chew and swallow it," Maria commented from where she stood near the counter.

Zoro sent the amnesiac a glower.

"You heard her," Nami stated meaningfully, looking over at Zoro with a sly smirk.

Zoro's glare intensified, but he started mashing the Berry into pieces while slamming Usopp's jaw open and shut. Then he grabbed the sniper by the back of his head and lifted him up off the table. When a resounding _gulp_ came from Usopp's neck, Zoro unceremoniously dropped the long-nose to the floor...where he continued to snore.

"Shouldn't take him too long," Maria commented as Nami shifted over to stand by Luffy. Zoro stalked over to the navigator, clearly looking like he wanted to punch something.

Luffy's mouth wasn't as hard as Usopp's was to pry open, considering that the Straw Hat was made completely out of rubber. All Nami had to do was drop the Berry whole down Luffy's throat, which, as soon as it sensed something was there, it swallowed without assistance.

Maria opened her mouth as though to say something, but there there came a loud cracking sound from outside the door. The amnesiac, the swordsman, and the navigator all turned their heads upon hearing the noise.

"What was that?" Maria asked in confusion.

"Only one way to find out." Nami moved to a side door and threw it open before disappearing into a room that had pink on the floor. A moment later, she came out again with a bright orange jacket that she threw in Zoro's face.

"Hey! What the--"

"It's a coat, you moron," Nami responded dryly, closing the door behind her. "Come on -- we've gotta head out there two, you know." She started to put on a bright pink jacket that the navigator was carrying over one arm.

Zoro sent a glower in Nami's direction, then put on the orange jacket before turning and starting for the door that led out to the upper deck. He opened it up and stomped out into the night, letting a blast of cold air in.

Maria shuddered when the cold came blasting in. "The temperature's dropped."

"Exactly why I think it would be a good idea for you to be wearing this," Nami stated, handing Maria a bright red coat with a fuzzy yellow lining.

"Thanks." The amnesiac started to slip into the outer garment while Nami grabbed Usopp and Luffy as she started to move for the door.

Maria paused, one arm halfway into a sleeve. "Uh, Nami? I don't think this is going to fit me. It kinda feels like its squeezing my arm." The amnesiac looked down at the sleeve in confusion before frowning and pushing a little harder in order to try and get her arm in further, but all that happened was that the coat's fabric actually started to give. Maria hastily pulled her arm out before the coat sleeve would have been torn to pieces, catching sight of what looked like a strange red flash for a moment as she removed her arm.

A moment later, however, the thought had completely vanished from her mind.

The navigator glanced back at Maria with a frown. "Well, if that's the case, then you don't have to come outside with us. I'll see if I can buy you a good winter coat the next time we reach an island -- which, hopefully, will be Fish-Man Island."

Maria frowned at the coat before dropping it on the table. Even though the door was open, she was starting to feel strangely...warm, for some reason.

"Actually, I think I'll be fine without it," she commented. Maria turned to look over at Nami before slipping around the navigator and stepping out into the snow-filled air.

"This is crazy," Zoro muttered, looking down at the deck below. "Come on, haven't you guys taken care of those morons yet?"

Maria came up to Zoro's right and looked over the railing down at the sight below. She frowned when she caught sight of one of the "fishermen" -- a man with yellow hair sticking up all over the place -- with his head slammed into the deck. It was obvious that the lawn there was going to need to be replaced -- and the planks under it, too.

"I knew there was something suspicious about all this!" Nami called, coming out from the galley and moving to Zoro's right. "Seriously, you look more like a bunch of thugs than some fishermen. Geez!"

Maria leaned over the deck railing to look over at the navigator when she heard something drop onto the wooden floor of the deck. She blinked a couple times at the still-sleeping forms of Usopp and Luffy, who were without any sign of winter coats.

"They should be up by now," Maria commented, frowning to herself.

"Did you really think you could fool us? We're way too smart for that." Nami paused, then amended her statement. "Well, most of us are."

"So, what now, Stansen?" asked the big bald member of the men who had drugged the crew. Maria eyed his nervous expression before her blue eyes went to the man who had given the pirates the strange drink in the first place.

"We're screwed!" the short man with the horned helmet yelped, grabbing his hat and pulling it down.

"Now, you'd better start talking," Nami stated seriously.

Stansen looked up at Nami, Zoro, and Maria with a surprised expression before it morphed into a more angered one. "It seems you've left us no choice."

Maria's eyes narrowed slightly. "What are you --"

"RETREAT!!" Stansen suddenly took off across the deck, causing Maria to turn her head sharply in surprise in order to watch where he was going.

"WHAT?!" came the yells of the other "fishermen" on the ship. That is, until they ran across the deck after Stansen and jumped into the water after him.

Franky and Sanji barreled across the deck after them.

"Get back here!" Franky barked, glaring down into the dark water below.

"Cowards!" Sanji added in an angry voice.

Maria frowned. "What kind of person would just fake it like that?"

"Him," Zoro and Nami responded in unison, pointing at still-sleeping Usopp.

Maria raised an eyebrow. "Really?"

"It's one of his specialties," Nami responded with a sigh.

"Damnit!" Franky cursed. "If you guys don't wanna talk, then I'll just have to blast you!" He aimed his left arm down at the water, his hand tilting back and revealing the cannon that was hiding underneath.

Just catching sight of it made Maria's right arm feel itchy for a moment, but the feeling soon passed, and the amnesiac forgot about it.

"Forget about it," Nami called back, coming down the stairs and onto the main deck. "Just let 'em go."

Maria looked at the navigator in confusion.

"We've got other things to worry about -- like Chopper. I don't see him anywhere."

Maria's eyebrows shot up, and she quickly looked around the deck in order to see if the little reindeer was out and about on the deck, needing a Chesto Berry to wake him up.

"Yeah, you're right," the amnesiac commented. "I don't see him, either."

"You don't think anything happened to him, do you?" Sanji asked, turning around to look at the others.

"He may have been abducted by those fake fishermen," Robin commented grimly as Zoro went down to the main deck, dragging two certain figures behind him.

Maria, seeing the swordsman move, was quick to follow after him and move down onto the lawn.

"You think so?" the amnesiac asked.

"I hate to say it, but I think you're right," Nami stated in a grim tone.

Franky let out a growl of annoyance. "Sneaking bastards."

"It's just a hunch at this point, but boarding their ship would be the fastest way to get to the bottom of this," Nami continued. "Let's get moving. The wind's starting to pick up -- we'll be getting a storm anytime, now."

Maria's eyebrows shot up, and she looked up at the sky, feeling the wind whip around in her hair.

"Before we go," Zoro spoke up, "we need to figure out what to do with these two." He looked down at the lawn, where Luffy and Usopp were now lying, still asleep.

Maria frowned. "The Chesto Berries should have kicked in by now. Do they have slow stomachs or something?"

"Knowing those two, the medicine that's in those things probably rushed through their systems before it could have a chance to do anything," Nami muttered in reply. She stomped over to the two sleeping teens and raised a fist, taking in a breath before yelling at the top of her lungs, "WAKE UP!!!"

_Bang! Bang!_

Usopp and Luffy jumped to their feet, yelping from the sudden pain that Nami had inflicted just seconds before they started shivering.

"Man, my butt's freezing out here," Luffy muttered in a whiny tone.

"Cold...but that doesn't explain why my head hurts so much!" Usopp muttered.

The two of them sneezed at once.

"If you'd have let the Chesto Berry do its magic, maybe you wouldn't have been whacked out here," Maria responded, frowning.

"Chesto Berry?" Usopp licked his lips for a moment before letting out another sneeze. "That explains the weird taste in my mouth."

"It's supposed to have woken you up sooner, but either you guys are heavy sleepers or you've got fast metabolisms," the amnesiac commented. She looked the two over for a moment before adding, "You might want to go get your coats or something."

"You need one, too!" Luffy spoke up, pointing at Maria. "There's no way you can't feel cold like that!"

Maria looked down at herself while Usopp scrambled up the stairs towards the boys' quarters. She grabbed the zipper on her orange jacket and zipped it up all the way before looking back at Luffy. "This is the best I can do; the jacket Nami got for me didn't fit. Besides, I don't feel cold for some reason."

Luffy frowned at Maria, then turned and stamped up the stairs, muttering under his breath about how Maria was stupid for not needing a coat when he and everybody else did.

Sanji slipped over and put a hand to Maria's forehead for a moment, causing the amnesiac to pull away while the cook's curled eyebrow arched in surprise.

"What was that for?" Maria asked.

"Just checking if you have a fever, Maria-san," Sanji responded, frowning. "You feel strangely warm."

"Well, the fact that your hand was ice cold doesn't exactly help matters, either," Maria commented, scowling at the cook. "I feel fine."

"I think we're going to have to have Chopper have a look at you when we get him back," Nami commented as the sound of two pairs of feet came thudding down the stairs towards them.

"Get him back?" Luffy repeated in confusion.

"What do you mean?" Usopp asked.

Nami let out a sigh of annoyance. "Okay, here's the deal: Chopper's not on the ship, and the only other place he could be right now is the ship that's tied to ours, meaning that the so-called fishermen probably took him when we sent them scurrying off the ship before you two woke up." The navigator glared at the captain and the sniper, who looked at Nami in surprise.

Usopp let out a violent sneeze as Luffy turned and jumped up onto the wall that ran around a good portion of the back of the ship.

"Sneaky crybabies," Usopp commented, frowning as best he could with a running nose. "We helped them, and now they've kidnapped Chopper!" He let out another sneeze.

"Maybe you should go inside," Maria suggested, coming over to the sniper. "It kinda sounds like you could end up getting a cold out here."

Usopp looked up at the amnesiac and shook his head. "Nah, I'm fine. I haven't been sick before, so this isn't going to keep me down."

"If you say so...."

"There you are!"

Maria and Usopp looked up when they heard Luffy's shout, and the amnesiac saw that the pirate captain had his attention on something that was behind them. She quickly scrambled up the stairs and onto the back deck so that she could see what it was that Luffy was staring at.

"What have you done with Chopper?" Luffy demanded.

"Straw Hat captain!" Stansen's voice came out across the distance between the ships. "I sincerely apologize for misusing your hospitality."

Maria frowned when she heard the other man speak, but she could hardly see the figure because of the darkness that was around them. However, that didn't mean that her ears were no good, because she heard what sounded like metal running on metal. Because of the lights that were already on the deck of the Sunny, she could barely make out what looked like a flash of a metal blade.

"This is where we part ways!" Stansen called out.

"What?" Luffy repeated. "Wait, hold on -- what are you doing? Stop!"

Maria frowned. "What is he--"

The amnesiac's statement was suddenly cut short when what felt like a headache suddenly hit her. She shook her head to clear it up, pictures coming and going in her mind in bright flashes that let her barely catch sight of their contents.

"Guys, he's gonna cut the rope!" Maria yelled, looking back at the others on the main deck.

"Yeah, I can see it, too!" Sanji called back.

"What?!" came Nami's, Zoro's, and Franky's voices in surprise.

"Hey, wait! Now, Gum Gum Pistol!"

Maria looked up, catching sight of Luffy's arm as it went blasting forward along the rope towards Stansen. The amnesiac followed it, biting her lower lip as she went, _please, please, please let him hit his mark!_

Unfortunately, the prayer went unanswered, as Luffy's arm started to sway off course a little.

"The wind!" Luffy yelped, watching in alarm as his own hand went blasting past Stansen and into the ship behind the Sunny.

"Crap!" Luffy yelped.

"Devil Fruit powers!" Stansen identified, looking at Luffy's arm. He turned sharply, and raised his sword again. "Sorry, but it's time for you to go!"

Maria could barely catch sight of what happened next, but what she did see allowed a sigh of relief to slip out.

Stansen stared at the arms that had grown out of himself in shock. "What the--"

"Nice one, Robin!" Luffy approved, looking back at the archeologist who had managed to stop the sword cut in its tracks. His arm quickly retracted from the other ship with a _snap!_ while Maria breathed a sigh of relief.

"Another crew member with Devil Fruit powers?" Stansen asked in annoyance.

"Hopefully, he isn't stronger than he looks," Maria commented as she turned and moved back to the stairs. "Now we can go over and get Chopper, right?"

As soon as Maria had spoken those words, she paused as a dull throb came back to mind, accompanied by the same pictures that she had seen a second ago. At the same time, she heard something that sounded almost like....

"Hmm?" Usopp looked around in confusion. "I'm hearing music...."

"Oh no," Maria murmured, swallowing nervously.

"Hey, you guys hearing what I'm hearing?" the sniper asked, looking around at the others. He turned and faced the side of the ship that Stansen and the others had jumped over a moment ago. "It's coming from this way."

"Yeah, I'm hearing it, too!" Nami remarked in surprise.

"Who's playing something like that around here in the open ocean?" Sanji asked, frowning. "It sounds like circus music or something."

"I don't think that it's a circus...." Maria commented from where she stood.

The others looked up at the amnesiac in surprise and confusion when they heard her statement.

"What do you mean?" Nami asked, frowning.

Before the brown-haired amnesiac could answer, Zoro's head suddenly whipped around, and he looked out over open sea.

"Something's coming," the swordsman stated in a warning tone.

Everyone turned to look in the direction that the swordsman was looking, and a second later, something appeared on the horizon.

"What's that?" Usopp pulled a pair of binoculars out of a pocket of his green coat while Maria joined them on the main deck. A moment later, he let out a yelp. "No way! The Marines are here!"

"What?" the others asked, looking over at Usopp in surprise. Maria just swallowed nervously.

"There's not just one," the amnesiac warned under her breath, rubbing her head with one hand. Usopp gave her a terrified expression.

"How the hell did they track us down so fast?" Zoro muttered in a growl.

"Perfect!" Sanji declared sarcastically. "This is just what we need."

Usopp went running across the deck, yelling at the top of his lungs in terror. Maria flinched back a little, looking nervous as well. However, she soon shifted into a bit more of a determined expression as she lifted up her right hand and brought out her staff in a flash of fire.

"Get us out of here, Nami!" Luffy called down from his perch.

"Right -- I'm on it!" The navigator made a mad dash for the helm on the upper deck on the front half of the ship.

"GO AWAY!" Usopp wailed, running across the deck.

Maria did her best to not fall into the same panic that Usopp was on account of her vision.

_Fighting Marines in Enies Lobby didn't make me feel this panicked; why am I feeling like this now?_

Three explosions suddenly went off, bringing up columns of water around the Sunny and causing Usopp's yelling to go up by a decibel.

"WE'RE UNDER ATTACK!! THEY'RE SHOOTING AT US!!!" He turned an looked over at Nami. "HURRY! THEY'RE GONNA BLOW US TO BITS!!"

"I know! Stop yelling!" Nami barked back. "Sanji!"

"Aye aye!"

"Nami's right," Maria piped up, coming over to the sniper as Zoro ran past them and onto the frontal upper deck. "Yelling isn't going to do us any good right now."

The ship started to tilt a little under their feet as it started to turn.

"E-easy for you to say!" Usopp yelped. "You're the one who's been claiming to have been with creatures that can do what Devil Fruit users can!"

"Not 'claim'," the amnesiac stated, scowling. "It's the truth! Where do you think I got the Chesto Berries from? My imagination?"

"More Marines, dead ahead!" Zoro called suddenly.

"Nami!" Luffy yelled. "Do something!"

The ship tilted again, and the throbbing headache that Maria was feeling started to get slowly worse while cannonfire went off around them. Flashes of things came and went while the amnesiac started to get the feeling that things were not going to be going there way for a while.

And then more Marine ships started to light up.

Usopp let out a short scream of terror as more Marine ships started appearing from out of the darkness around them. Maria followed them as they appeared and swallowed when she saw how many there were...and how well they had the Sunny surrounded.

"HOLY CRAP!!" Usopp yelped. He scrambled up to the front of the ship, yelling for Nami to do something. Maria, Franky, and Robin followed the sniper up to the helm, where Zoro and Luffy were standing with Sanji and Nami.

"Shut up already!" Nami yelled, glaring down at the sniper that was hugging her from his position on his knees. "I'm doing the best I can!"

"Nami, take a look! Over there!"

Maria turned her head upon hearing Sanji exclaim something, and she followed his arm to look out over the ocean; her eyes widened in surprise.

"An escape route?" Nami yelped in surprise, running over to the side of the ship to look at the gap between a number of Maine ships.

"Wh-what? Let me see, let me see!" Usopp scrambled over to Nami and looked our at the area Sanji had pointed out.

Maria blinked in confusion. "How does that work? Wouldn't they have us completely surrounded rather than give us a gap to slip through?"

"Think we can make it?" Usopp asked, turning to look over at Nami.

Maria gave a sigh. "You're not listening to me, are you...?"

"GO FOR IT!" Nami barked, turning to look at Sanji.

"Roger!" Sanji suddenly spun the wheel, and Maria could feel the ship shift under her feet as the ship started towards the gap...right before the ship suddenly shifted to one side when the wind suddenly slammed into the side of the ship.

Maria let out a yelp and reached out to grab a railing when the wind blasted them; the amnesiac could see Usopp sliding across the deck.

"Hey!" Luffy yelled. "What's going on?"

"The wind!" Nami called back. "It changed directions -- we can't hold the helm!"

The ship suddenly leaned in the other direction, and Usopp went sliding across the deck again, wailing.

"How are we going to be able to move, then?" Maria asked.

"Damn!" Sanji cursed, pushing on the helm. "It won't turn!"

"Outta the way!"

Maria looked at Franky in surprise when he pushed the cook out of the way and sat down on the bench behind the helm.

"Bastard, what are you doing?" Sanji demanded.

"Do you think you can get us out of here or something?" Maria asked.

Franky let out a short laugh. "Forget already? It's like I told ya before! The Soldier Dock System was made for situations like this!"

Maria moved over behind Franky, gripping the back of the bench as she watched the shipwright do something on the helm; the amnesiac blinked in confusion when she saw that Franky was moving sets of numbers around the helm, stopping at two zeros.

"Channel Zero...." Franky grabbed a level and pulled back. "Activated!"

Maria heard something shifting, and she lifted her head and started looking around in confusion.

"Cola Engine...Battleship Sunny!" Franky declared. "Go!"

When Franky yelled that, the ship suddenly blasted forward, completely ignoring the wind and everything else that was battering them.

"All right!" Luffy yelled, standing near one side of the ship. "We got away!"

"Yeah!" Usopp called out in agreement. "All the Marines can do is sit back and watch! Nya-nya!"

"You got that right!" Franky called back in agreement. Maria could see from where she was standing that the cyborg was grinning. "This boat's faster than anything they've got! SUPER!!!"

"You really put a lot of work into this," Maria commented, grinning at Franky. She wasn't watching the Marine ships disappear from sight, but rather the cyborg with a kind of amazement and adoration that the amnesiac couldn't quite explain.

Franky gave a laugh. "I didn't think you were into this kind of thing, lil sis!"

Maria gave a shrug. "I just think it's kinda cool, that's all."

The cyborg let out another laugh as the Sunny left the Marine ships far behind.

**Time Break**

"Chopper, where are you?!" Luffy yelled at the top of his voice.

Maria scanned the deck of the damaged ship that the Sunny had been towing. The "fishermen" were all standing out on deck, looking cold and nervous while the Straw Hats stood in front of them, looking around with determination in their eyes.

The entire crew had come across the rope tether and over to the other ship as soon as Franky had stopped his paddlewheels. The amnesiac had some difficulty getting across, so she ended up asking Franky for some help -- which really got Sanji's tie tied in knots.

Maria was pretty sure that it was still in knots because she was staying close to the cyborg's side and not really moving anywhere else.

"Hey, Chopper! We're here to bring you back!" Luffy continued yelling. "If you can here me, say something!" The captain started moving forward. "Hey, stop hiding! Chopper!"

One of the "fishermen" dashed into Luffy's path, a sword in his grip.

"Don't move," the man growled. Maria eyed his yellow hair and wondered how in the world he's managed to get it to stick up all over the place in something that resembled ordered chaos. "If you take one more step, I'll--"

A hand was suddenly clapped on the man's shoulder, and Maria moved her gaze to the figure behind him -- Stansen.

"Back off," he muttered, pushing the yellow-haired man out of the way. "Captain Straw Hat."

Maria blinked in utter confusion as Stansen suddenly dropped to his knees and bowed. _What is he--_

"Please, please forgive me!" Stansen begged.

The yellow-haired man and the other members of Stansen's crew looked completely dumbfounded...that is, until the yellow-haired man frowned.

"Stop that!" the yellow-haired man barked. "Why are you begging to them?"

"Shut up!" Stansen called back, turning his head slightly. He lifted his head to look at Luffy. "My apologies. I'm sorry that I was so rude -- for deceiving you. On our behalf I beg your forgiveness."

Maria frowned and glanced up at Franky. "Doesn't he know that we're looking for our doctor?"

The cyborg shrugged.

"I don't care about any of that," Luffy responded. "We came here for one reason only -- to get Chopper back." He glanced back at his crew. "Right?"

Nami and Maria nodded in agreement.

Sanji let out a sigh. "Get a backbone already," he muttered.

Franky simply grunted and cracked his knuckles, creating loud explosions of sound that caused Maria to flinch a little before looking down at her own hands.

"How can such little bones make so much noise?" she murmured under her breath.

"I haven't seen him, but I'd be more than happy to help you look for him," Stansen stated quickly from his position on the deck. "If he's not on your ship, then he's--"

"Luffy!"

Maria looked up from her hands upon hearing the doctor's voice, and she caught sight of him standing at what looked like a door that led to the lower decks of the ship.

"Chopper!" Luffy stated, relieved. "We've been looking for you everywhere! Come on -- let's get out of here."

"But I--" Chopper cut himself off and looked back as the sound of footsteps came from belowdecks. Maria's eyebrows arched when she saw a little boy dashing up the stairs with an intent look on his face.

"We still need him here!" the kid exclaimed. "If the doctor leaves now, he's done for!"

"Huh?" Luffy asked, clearly confused. "Who is?"

Maria frowned. "Is there someone here who's hurt?"

The boy grabbed a broom from where it was leaning against the wall and ran forward with it, swinging it around. "I won't let you take him, no matter what!"

Maria frowned, and she brought out her phoenix-topped staff in a flash.

"Hey, hold on," Luffy started. Anything else that he might have said was cut off by the boy yelling and running forward, swinging his broom.

Maria started moving forward, ready to connect her staff with his broom in order to stop the kid short, but he was grabbed by two of the "fishermen."

"Stop it, Giro!" the shorter of the two exclaimed.

"No!" the boy -- Giro -- responded.

"Just calm down! You'll get yourself killed!"

"I don't care! I'm not afraid of dying, you hear me? I'm not a coward like the rest of you -- I'll fight him!"

Maria relaxed her stance somewhat when she saw that the two were holding the boy back. She gave a slight frown at his statements, however.

"No matter how strong the enemy is, I'll keep fighting or die trying!" Giro pushed against the arms that held him. "Let me go!"

Maria frowned slightly at the kid and his fiery spirit. She admired a kid who was willing to step up, but there was something else about this....

"Chopper, what's going on?" Luffy asked, looking over at the reindeer as he moved over to Maria and the others. "What's his problem?"

"Luffy...." Chopper looked up. "I hate to ask this, but I need to ask if I can stay on this ship for a little longer. There's someone here who's badly wounded."

"I thought so," Maria murmured.

"I treated him, and he's stable, but he still needs my attention," Chopper added. "Please. Let me look after him until he's regained consciousness, at least."

"Sure, you've got it," Luffy responded easily. "We can wait a bit. I'll even wait here with you, if you want."

"Really?" Chopper looked up at Luffy in amazement while Maria looked at the reindeer with surprise.

"Are you sure you want to do that?" Maria asked, frowning.

"Yup." Luffy looked over at the amnesiac and gave a grin. "It'll be fine. Don't worry about it. You guys go on back to the ship."

There was a slight undertone in Luffy's voice that made it sound like no one would want to argue with him.

"All right...captain." Maria gave a slight nod, then turned with the others and started back across the rope tether to the other ship. Once again, the amnesiac and Franky worked together in order to get back across to the Sunny, leaving Sanji with a sour look.

As soon as Maria and Franky came onto the deck again, the amnesiac let out a sigh of relief.

"I think I'm going to go to bed," Maria commented. "I've had just about enough of walking around and getting weird looks from you guys for not having a coat."

"I was thinking of doing that," the cyborg remarked in reply, grinning. "I'm thinking of getting up early tomorrow morning and maybe giving that other ship some repairs. Looks like it could use some."

The amnesiac gave a nod in agreement, then turned and started walking towards the girls' quarters. On the way there, she sent a disapproving frown in the direction of the sea.

_An iceberg?_


	53. The Iceberg Wastes

Maria woke up abruptly the next morning when she heard something that sounded like a collision.

"What in the name of the Grand Line?" Maria demanded, getting out of bed and scrambling around her orange satchel -- which held the small number of Berries she had taken from the brown backpack the day before.

Robin sat up in her bed, frowning slightly. "It sounds like an attack of some kind," she noted. The woman stepped out of bed and walked across the room to her closet, which was marked with the painting of a book that had what looked like a strange rune on it; Maria suspected that Robin must have had some experience with painting, otherwise that would never have come out as well as it had.

And the painting on Maria's closet door? She hadn't been able to come up with anything yet, so she had left her closet bare. Besides, she hadn't put anything in it yet.

"I hope that whatever it is isn't attacking us," Maria commented, starting towards the door that led out of the girls' quarters.

"Sanji, look out!" Nami's voice yelled as Maria stepped out into the morning air. "Hard to port!"

Maria let out a yelp in surprise as the ship suddenly shifted under her feet, and she looked up in order to see what was forcing the Sunny to change course.

"Where did all of these icebergs come from?" Maria called out in surprise as two icebergs slammed together in front of the ship. She dashed across the lawn and over to the helm, where Nami and Sanji were standing.

"They've been here since last night," Nami responded, looking over at Maria as she came over. "And it looks like they're moving in ways that should be impossible."

"There's no way that they should be able to move so fast," Sanji agreed. "That was a close call back there."

"Something fishy's going on here," Maria commented, frowning. "Icebergs shouldn't be able to move that fast."

"It's almost as though they have a mind of their own," Nami muttered. "We should get the rest of the crew up so that they can see this. Do you think you can get them up, Maria?"

"Me?" Maria pointed at herself in surprise. "Why not Robin? Or Sanji?"

"Sanji's at the wheel, as you can plainly see," Nami replied in an irritated manner. "As for Robin...." The navigator shrugged. "You're the one who came out here."

Maria turned her head and looked around the deck, only for a frown to come over her face. "Well, all right. I'll give it a try, I guess."

The amnesiac turned and started back to the sleeping quarters and dashed up the stairs as Robin was stepping out into the cold morning air, wearing purple-themed clothes.

"Nami's sending me to wake up the boys," Maria stated dutifully, scowling.

"Shouldn't be too hard," Robin replied with a slight smile. "Just be careful of Zoro. He can be a bit...defensive, at times."

Maria blinked a couple times. "Do you say this from experience?"

"Perhaps." Robin looked somewhat amused. "Good luck."

Maria gave a slight nod, then turned and walked toward the entrance to the boys' cabin. She opened the door slightly and peered in, wondering with a hesitant expression what exactly it was going to look like inside.

It was actually relatively neat, surprising Maria somewhat for some strange reason. Another thing that left her somewhat curious was also the fact that all the boys had hammocks to sleep in instead of actual beds.

"Huh." Maria stepped carefully into the room, making sure to leave the door open behind her for a quick escape if she needed one. "Which one could I wake up without getting anybody mad...?"

Her gaze slipped over Zoro, Franky, and Usopp, and she bit her lower lip in thought.

_Robin said I should be careful of Zoro because he can get to be defensive sometimes. Does that mean, if he doesn't recognize someone, he lashes out in his sleep? And I don't know how Franky's going to react, either...Usopp would probably be easiest to wake up...._

Maria wove her way through the hammocks and towards Usopp, who was the furthest back. When the amnesiac got there, she made a face of disgust when she saw the bubble of snot that was somehow coming out of Usopp's nose.

_Did the cold affect him more than he thought?_

"Hey, Usopp," Maria stated quietly, grabbing the fabric of the hammock and shaking it a little. "You've gotta get up."

Usopp merely let out a snort in his sleep and moved like he was attempting to turn over. That movement gave Maria an idea that caused her to smirk.

"All right, then." Maria grabbed the hammock's fabric and started moving backwards, pulling the hammock up with her with surprising ease considering that there was a pretty heavy teenager lying in it.

Maria wasn't pulling on it for long, though -- when she managed to get the hammock pretty much at a ninety degree angle from where it had been, Usopp rolled out of it and landed on the floor with a loud _thud._

Usopp let out a yelp of surprise as soon as he hit the deck, and he scrambled up to his feet. "Ow! My nose!"

Maria's smirk morphed into a nervous smile, and she rubbed the back of her neck. "Sorry about that. I wasn't exactly sure how to get you up."

The sniper turned to look at Maria, then his gaze went back and forth between the amnesiac and the hammock. "You actually managed to push me out?"

"Yeah. I was kinda hoping that was gonna happen, though." Maria gave a sheepish grin. "Anyway, Nami wants everybody out on deck, and you guys are the only ones that are still sleeping in."

"Not anymore," came a familiar growl from behind Maria.

The amnesiac turned, and she caught sight of Zoro with an unhappy scowl on his face as he finished putting on his coat. Nearby, Franky was putting on his aviator's jacket, muttering something under his breath that Maria couldn't quite catch.

"I guess Usopp's yell kinda woke you guys up?" Maria guessed, looking back and forth between the two of them.

"You could say that," Zoro responded, scowling at the amnesiac. "So, the witch wants us out on deck?"

"Yup." Maria started for the door, but the swordsman moved in the way, shutting it behind him before Maria could so much as step out into the cold morning air.

"The next time she sends you in here," Zoro growled, "make sure to wake _me_ up first."

"Uh...." Maria blinked a couple times when she saw the intense frown that was on Zoro's face. "S-sure, I guess."

"Not 'I guess'." Zoro turned anyway and opened up the door that led out of the boys' quarters, letting in a blast of cold air that affected Maria for only a moment before the cold seemed to fade somewhat.

The swordsman stepped out and started making his way across the deck, Maria and the other two following after him. The group soon joined Sanji, Nami, and Robin.

"How'd you manage to get them up so fast?" Nami asked, looking at Maria in surprise.

"She made Usopp squeal," Zoro replied, scowling at the amnesiac.

"It's not my fault his nose is so sensitive!" Maria responded quickly looking at the swordsman. "I just pushed him out of his hammock, that's all."

Usopp glared at the amnesiac, rubbing his nose.

"So, what's going on?" Franky asked.

"There's something going on," Nami responded. She motioned to the ice around them. "These icebergs are moving on their own."

"The icebergs are moving on their own?" Usopp repeated in confusion, frowning.

"Come on, don't be ridiculous," Zoro responded. "There's no way that could happen."

"Ridiculous or not, something strange going on," Robin commented in reply.

Usopp let out a loud sneeze.

"Gesundheit," Maria stated automatically. She blinked after she said it, wondering where exactly it was that the word had come from, but then she shook it off.

"She's right, they are moving, and not in the same direction as the sea current," Nami added, Sanji nodding from where he stood next to her. "What's making it happen isn't natural."

"How is it possible?" Usopp asked.

"Come on," Franky complained. "You don't really expect us to believe this crap?"

"Fine," Nami responded shortly. "I'll prove it." She turned and looked at the cook. "Sanji, demonstrate."

"Aye aye!" Sanji saluted, his eye being replaced by a heart for a moment seconds before he turned and dashed for the helm. The ship started to shift to the left, and everyone else moved up to the figurehead in order to get a look at what was going on with the icebergs.

The open sea that was in front of them was suddenly closed off by two icebergs moving in front of each other.

"Wh-what's going on here?" Usopp asked in a squeak of surprise.

Maria's eyes widened when she caught sight of the ice slamming into each other. "Those two icebergs are moving in opposite directions!"

"And again," Sanji grunted, turning the wheel in the opposite direction. The boat started to shift.

Maria watched as an iceberg once again moved in front of them. "That's impossible, but...how?" She scratched her head in confusion. "And what are we going to be able to do in order to get around it?"

"Well would you look at that?" Franky smirked. "Cheeky little bastards."

Zoro jumped forward off the figurehead and into the air, bringing out one of his swords and throwing an air blast forward from the blade. He landed easily on the iceberg, high above the Sunny, just seconds before the entire iceberg split in half easily, sending waves of water all over the place for a moment.

"Nothing but ice from top to bottom," Zoro noted as the ship started towards the split iceberg.

"I wouldn't have believed it if I hadn't seen it myself," Usopp commented as he walked away from the figurehead. "It's almost like they're making a path!"

"A path?" Maria repeated in confusion.

"But they're normal icebergs," Robin commented. "Very strange indeed."

"It's like that run-in with the Marines," Nami commented. "It feels like there's something leading us forward to a specific place."

Maria looked back and forth between Robin and Nami, frowning. "Yeah, it was kind of weird that there was a gap right in the middle of that circle...or that there was music playing right before they revealed themselves. That definitely doesn't sound like anything that I know about the Marines -- which is little to nothing, by the way."

Nami nodded in agreement. "Marines don't normally do things like that. And the icebergs moving around makes me even more nervous about what's going on."

"I don't know who's responsible for this crap, but they've got some nerve," Franky growled. "Whoever it is, I'm not scared of 'em! Bring it!"

"Well, first, before we fight them, we have to figure out who 'they' are," Nami responded.

There came a rumbling noise behind the ship, and Maria turned her head to look back as two icebergs slammed into each other behind them.

The amnesiac brought out her phoenix-topped staff in a shower of sparks. "I don't like this."

"Why? You scared?" Franky looked over at Maria, who shook her head.

"Just being cautious." She rubbed her staff. "In the past, I've been to certain places that have had environments reacting like this. Pokemon call them 'Mystery Dungeons', because every time you enter them, they're completely changed from when you were in them last. An ever-changing maze...." Maria shook her head. "Sometimes Pokemon have caused those kinds of things to happen on their own, too -- either for fun or otherwise."

"Pokemon cause--" Nami paused, frowning in thought.

At the same time, Maria flinched somewhat when a headache hit her. She caught sight of something: Chopper, Giro, and Luffy all looking at a man with spiky red hair and bandages covering his upper half.

Maria shook her head and cleared her vision for a moment before looking around the deck, her staff disappearing from sight. "I'm going to walk over to the back of the ship for a bit."

Nami nodded absently for a moment, then waved Maria off as she started walking towards the front of the ship; the amnesiac then turned and started towards the back of the ship, moving at a jog in order to cross the lawn and get up and down the stairs that led to the various decks.

Before reaching the very back of the ship, Maria dashed up to check on her Berry trees. Much to her surprise, the amnesiac found that there were a number of sacks that had been left sitting around the dirt plot, each one with a specific Berry sown onto it.

"Who did this?" Maria asked quietly, frowning to herself. A moment later, she gave a slight shrug, then started picking Berries and putting them into their respective bags. Then she checked over the trees again, wondering what exactly was going on with them so far. When she reached the trees that had taken a day to grow, Maria paused.

"It looks like these haven't died yet," the amnesiac murmured quietly, frowning. She fingered one of the leaves of the Oran Berry tree, eyeing the slight yellow coloring that was appearing at the edge. "They're probably going into Fall...and if they are dying, I've always got the other Berries."

That finished, Maria gave the dirt plot a major sprinkling of water, then moved to the back of the ship to look out over the space of sea between the Sunny and the phoenix-headed ship.

"What's going on over there...?" Maria asked quietly, frowning. She could hear what sounded like cheers coming from the other ship, among which were the words "Captain Puzzle."

"Captain Puzzle?" Maria tried to look out over the ship, but she wasn't able to see anyone standing near the figurehead. "Wait...Stansen said that he was acting as captain the other night...is Puzzle the name of their real captain?"

The amnesiac leaned out over the deck railing, straining her ears to see if she could catch anything that might be going on over on the other ship. However, what she managed to catch mostly sounded like murmurs.

Except for one statement from an unfamiliar voice.

"Listen to me. We're not...we're not going back to the New World."

"What?" Maria asked in confusion. "Who said that? And the New World...they said that they hadn't been there before, but...what does this mean?"

"Captain Puzzle, have you lost your mind?" someone else demanded. "We're ready to lay down our lives for you -- just like Vigiro did!"

"We were waiting all this time -- for the phoenix to rise from the ashes!" a third voice spoke up.

"Where is our fearless Captain Puzzle?!" a fourth demanded.

Other voices ended up calling out in anger and argued against the first voice's decision.

Maria frowned slightly. "The guy who just spoke...was that Captain Puzzle, then?"

"How can you just throw away your pride like that?!" Giro demanded.

Maria frowned slightly, then let out an unhappy sigh. "It...it almost sounds like there's something going on with their captain."

The amnesiac caught sight of a familiar straw hat coming up from the lower deck and onto the figurehead.

"I would thank you by giving you something, but the New World took everything that I have," Puzzle spoke as Chopper jumped onto the upper deck behind the phoenix figurehead.. "You might want to rethink going there -- it's extremely dangerous out there."

"It's fine, we can handle it," Luffy responded with a confident grin. He glanced back at the figures below. "See, we're really strong."

"...I see. The best of luck, then."

Maria frowned.

"Let's get moving," Luffy spoke up. "The captain's given up on their flag. There's no hope for them. They're no longer pirates."

Maria's frown deepened. "This isn't good. No longer pirates...." A minor headache came and went, and she shook her head. It kinda felt like something was trying to come back, but it wasn't quite able to come through.

The amnesiac wasn't able to figure out what exactly was going on, however, because a large column of what looked like ice suddenly burst up from under the water, causing Maria to reel back in surprise when the rope that had been between the two ships was cut neatly.

"Articuno's tailfeathers!" Maria yelped in surprise. She looked around in confusion as more ice pillars started to come popping up out of the sea in random locations all around the ship, causing the Sunny to start bobbing around from the resulting waves. "Where are these things coming from?!"

"Luffy! Chopper!" Sanji yelled from the helm over Usopp's screams of terror.

"They'll be find on their own!" Nami called back. "For now, concentrate on steering the ship!"

"Leave it to me!"

Maria started to make her way away from the back of the deck and started towards the helm while Nami called out again.

"We're being surrounded by them! Steer to starboard, now!"

"Aye aye!" Sanji responded as Maria reached the main deck.

"There's no way that this is natural," Maria commented, gripping at the railing along the side of the ship as it rocked. "Ice only breaks apart if it's in a warmer climate or if there's ice being slammed together. The water around here definitely _isn't_ warm and the ice has already proved itself to be unpredictable!"

"How wise of you to notice that, Maria," Robin called out from the upper deck. "How were you able to figure that out so quickly?"

Maria frowned and opened her mouth to respond, only to pause for a moment as her frown deepened. "I...I don't know. It just came to me, I guess."

"You must have a lot of knowledge hidden by your amnesia then."

"Maybe." Maria scowled at the thought. "But if I can't remember everything now, then it's not going to be of much help."

"It's no use! They're still coming! Hard to port!" Nami yelled.

Maria started to make her way up to the upper deck as the mast of the ship rammed itself into an iceberg on one side.

"Careful!" Usopp yelled in warning.

"They're all gathering together!" Robin noted as Maria came up to stand next to her.

"Sanji, watch where you're going!" Usopp barked.

"Crap, the rudder's not responding," Sanji muttered.

Maria looked around at the walls of icebergs and brought her phoenix staff out, twirling it a couple times as she wondered what exactly she could do to help. So far, she hadn't really done any powerful attacks....

The amnesiac bit her lower lip. There was something about all this that felt strangely familiar for some reason, but she wasn't exactly sure why.

"Forget the rudder," Nami responded, pointing forward. "Take a look over there! Since the icebergs have blocked the current, they're causing whirlpools to form!"

Maria turned her head when she heard that, and the amnesiac caught sight of a wall of ice directly in front of them. She could hear the water rushing and took it to mean that the sea was swirling in front of them.

"Whirlpools, too?!" Usopp yelped from where he was lying on the deck. "What the hell is wrong with this sea?!"

"It's like a literal Mystery Dungeon," Maria commented, frowning. She scowled at the icebergs around them. "Except for time and space warping, that is."

A twinge hit her at the back of the head, and the amnesiac shook her head while a statement slipped into her mind.

_"This is the Frozen Highway. Once a ship loses its way in here, it will never return to the open sea."_

"Huh?" Maria blinked a couple times in confusion before turning her head and looking around.

"Is there something wrong?" Robin inquired.

"I don't know...." Maria frowned, then looked at the archeologist. "For a minute there, I could have sworn I heard Stansen saying something about this place being called the Frozen Highway. But...I don't see him anywhere in sight."

The icebergs around them suddenly shifted again, and Sanji was able to steer the ship without getting it stuck in any whirlpools, much to Maria's relief. As soon as the Sunny was relatively clear of that danger, however, Sanji instantly turned on Usopp and gave him a swift kick in the head.

"Sanji!" Maria exclaimed in alarm. "What do you think you're--"

"How dare you!" Sanji barked.

"How dare he what?" Maria asked in confusion.

Nami just let out a sigh and sat down on the bench behind the helm.

Sanji left Usopp sitting on the deck with a couple bumps to his head while he turned and started steering the ship again, turning on the paddles that had gotten the ship away from the Marines the night before.

"I can't believe you!" the cook snarled. "Sneaking a peek at Nami's butt during all the commotion!"

"You turned on the paddles," Franky noted, coming over. Maria looked over at the cyborg and noted with some surprise that he had come up from the main deck.

"Is something wrong?" Franky asked.

"Franky," Nami greeting, looking upside-down over the back of the bench at the shipwright. "Where have you been?"

"I was refilling a batch of cola in the engine room," Franky replied, jabbing a thumb back in the direction he had come from. "I've got a feeling. If I'm right, it'll definitely come in handy soon." He gave a knowing smirk.

Maria frowned slightly. "How would doing that help us out?"

"That's great and all," Usopp muttered, "but with all these moving icebergs, it doesn't matter! We're stuck here." He turned his beaten face to look at Franky. "We're gonna be trapped in this stupid place for the rest of our lives."

"Don't worry," Nami responded, still looking back at Franky. "We'll figure it out soon."

"All places have an exit or a stopping point somewhere," Maria added. "If we can find a gap in these icebergs where they can't go, maybe we'll be able to get our bearings and get out of here."

"Come on," Franky complained, "you make it sound like those icebergs are a big deal."

Usopp and Nami both got to their feet and looked at the shipwright. "What are you talking about?"

"Yeah," Maria agreed, frowning. "I can't see how they're not a big deal, all things considered."

"We just need to get out of here, right?" Franky lifted up his sunglasses and smirked. "Doesn't matter how."

Maria blinked for a moment, wondering what it was that the cyborg meant. Then she remembered that they had been in something of a jam before -- right when they were leaving Water 7. And the thing they had used to get out of the way....

"Oh, yeah!" Maria, Nami, and Usopp exclaimed together, the amnesiac lamming a fist into an open palm.

It was right at that point that an iceberg suddenly rammed into the boat from the right, sending Maria stumbling across the deck for a moment as a result of the impact. Somehow, she was able to keep her balance and watched with no small amount of alarm as Usopp and Franky went flying into a nearby wall and ended up with the cyborg lying on top of the sniper.

The rumbling came to a stop, and Maria heard something in the silence that followed. It sounded almost like something was scraping away at the ice.

The amnesiac looked over at the others. "Do you guys hear that?"

Nami nodded. "Yeah. It seems to be coming from over there." She motioned to the iceberg that had slammed into the ship, and Maria looked over in that direction, as did the others.

"Heh. Looks like we finally found you," stated one of the four figures standing on the iceberg.

Maria blinked in some confusion. "A hockey player, a girl, and two...figure ice skaters?"

The amnesiac's gaze went over each of the figures in turn, a frown of curiosity appearing on her face: a teenage boy wearing what looked like some kind of orange hockey uniform, a little girl with dark blue hair and a bored expression on her face, and a woman with dark blue hair and a man with light brown hair -- the last two looking clearly like figure skaters of some kind.

Especially considering that the man was holding the woman so that she wouldn't end up falling over backwards from her leaning-back position.

"Going somewhere?" the woman with dark blue hair asked. "Don't you know that when a ship is lost in the Frozen Highway, it's destined to wander for all eternity?" She moved up into an upright position, the man holding her close in what looked like a loving embrace. "Just give up already!"

What happened next made Maria want to gag.

The man and the woman looked at each other, with hearts appearing in their eyes -- much like when Sanji was looking at Robin, Nami, or Maria.

"Couldn't have said it better myself!" the man commented. He started to spin around, holding the woman out at arm's length so that she could spin with one leg out.

"Indeed, indeed, indeed!" she declared, coming into a spin. "You'll never get away from us!"

And then the figure-skating duo kissed on the lips _right in front of everybody._

"That's rather tasteless," Robin commented while Franky's and Usopp's jaws dropped.

Maria made a gagging noise. "No kidding!" She raised her voice. "Get a room, you two! Sheesh!"

"I can't believe such a beautiful woman is with that man-troll," Sanji muttered, head bowed in disappointment.

The couple pulled their heads back at once, their lips staying together for a second longer before snapping away from each other like a cork coming out of a wine bottle. When they continued to stare at each other, Maria considered throwing a fireball in their direction, but Sanji ended up beating her to it.

"Hey, you!" the cook barked, pointing an accusing finger at the figure skaters. "I challenge you to a duel for her honor!"

Nami slammed a fist into Sanji's head, sending the blond down onto the deck.

"Unfortunately, we can't stick around for games," Nami commented, smirking at the group of four. She moved her gaze over to the cyborg. "Franky?"

Franky's jaw retracted, and he gave a hum of confirmation before turning and walking off the upper deck.

"Excuse me!" Nami called out. "But I'm afraid we'll be leaving now."

The woman in the figure-skating pair gained a disapproving expression. "Have you gone deaf? I already told you, escape from the Frozen Highway is impossible. Understand? Impossible!"

"Right," the man voiced in agreement. "Couldn't have said it better."

The two gave each other the goo-goo eyes again, then went through the same routine that they did a few seconds ago.

"Indeed, indeed, indeed! You'll never get away from us!"

Maria let out a growl as the two kissed again. "Seriously, I get that you're in love, but you don't have to show it every few seconds!" Small, almost unseen bits of fire started to lick at her shoulders as she seriously considered burning every single hair off of the kissers' heads.

"Whenever you're ready, Franky!" Nami called out.

A second later, the kissing couple still hadn't let go of their kiss, and Maria was starting to gather fire in her hands when the entire boat started to shake.

Franky's voice came from somewhere on the ship. "Coup de..."

The kissing couple came apart.

"...BURST!"

Maria forgot all about blasting the lovers with fire and instead gripped the railing as the ship was sent flying up into the air above the icebergs.

The amnesiac peered over the side of the ship at the icebergs below, grinning as she watched their obstacles pass by underneath them. Maria let her gaze move, and she caught sight of something that made her grin.

"Look, guys! The icebergs end up ahead!" Maria pointed ahead of the ship.

Above her head, there came the sound of a twittering noise, and the blue-eyed teen looked up in order to see where the sound was coming from.

"What a strange-looking bird," Robin commented from nearby.

"Yeah," Maria agreed, frowning at the strange bird that had flown over their ship.

The Sunny slammed into the water, sending up waves on either side as the ship started floating away from the Frozen Highway.

"Well, we're out of there, now," Maria commented, looking back at the icebergs. In the distance, she caught sight of something in the sky that was colored black and flapping, she gave a frown.

"Ahh, now I can finally relax." Usopp walked onto the main deck, and he flopped down onto the lawn, spreading his arms wide. "I could sure get used to this. Blue sky...white clouds...a big, beautiful sun shining behind the flapping pirate fla--"

When Usopp cut himself off and let out a yell of "What the hell?!", Maria turned sharply and looked back at the sniper with surprise before her gaze moved upward, and her eyes widened in shock.

"Our flag!" Nami yelled in surprise. "It's gone!"

Maria looked around deck for a moment. "Not only that, but we're missing Zoro, too! And Chopper and Luffy!"

"This isn't good," Usopp groaned.

Maria bit her lower lip, wondering what exactly it was that wasn't good about the situation. Then she remembered what it was that Luffy had said about Captain Puzzle and his pirate crew.

_"The captain's given up on their flag. They're no longer pirates."_

A shudder ran through the amnesiac when other things came popping into her head, mainly Luffy standing on top of a snow-covered castle, holding a flag with a skull-and-crossbones with what looked like flower petals going across the flag.

"Chaos and Master Emeralds," Maria muttered, running a hand through her hair in order to remove some of the knots brought on from the wind. "This is even worse than I thought. We're going to have to get that flag replaced."

"No," Robin responded. "We have to get it _back."_

 


	54. The Flag!

 

Maria bit her lower lip. "How? And what took off with it?"

"Yeah...."

Sanji, Nami, Robin, and Franky came down onto the main deck and gathered around Maria and Usopp.

"It just disappeared," the cook added to his own statement, eyeing the place where the flay had been flying a moment ago.

"How long has it been gone?" Franky asked, frowning.

Usopp started panicking, pacing quickly across the deck worriedly. "Oh, no...where did it go?! It's gone gone gone gone gone!"

"Uh...I don't think saying that will do us any good," Maria commented, watching Usopp pace back and forth across the deck. Her eyes moved down to his boots. "And I think you're going to wear a rut into the deck."

A sudden flash of purple came and went out of the corner of the amnesiac's eye, and she turned when she saw Robin dashing over to the side of the ship that was facing the icebergs. Curious, Maria followed after the archeologist, as did the others.

"What's wrong, Robin?" Franky asked as the rest of the crew reached the deck railing.

"That's absurd," the woman muttered quietly, frowning.

"Eh?" Usopp looked over at Robin in confusion while Maria frowned at her in curiosity. "Is there something over there that I'm not seeing?" He started digging around in his coat for something, pulling out a pair of binoculars a moment later.

"Do you have any idea what's going on?" Maria asked.

Robin glanced over at the amnesiac while Usopp raised the binoculars up and looked out over the icebergs. "Your visions didn't let you see this?"

Maria blinked a couple times out of surprise at the question, then frowned. "Not that I can remember off the top of my head, no. The last one I had was last night, with the ring of Marines -- not that they were, probably." The blue-eyed teen shrugged helplessly. "I haven't had anything like that since -- and I haven't had any memories come back, either. It's weird."

"There it is!" Usopp suddenly exclaimed. "I see the flag!"

"Where?" Franky and Maria asked at once. The cyborg and amnesiac looked at each other for a moment in confusion when they heard the other speak at the same time.

"It looks like some weird bird-fish thing has got a hold of it," Usopp replied, not looking over at the two.

"I thought so," Robin stated in a grim tone. When Maria and the others looked at the archeologist in confusion, she added, "Those same people we've been dealing with are the ones who stole it."

"What?" Maria asked in surprise while she and the others looked at Robin in shock.

"I saw that little one commanding that bird before we got out of the ice," Robin finished.

Usopp let out a yelp. "It's taking the flag right back to the icebergs!"

"Damnit!" Sanji cursed. He turned and started running up the stairs towards the front of the ship.

"Hey, Sanji!" Nami called after him as she and the others turned to look up at where the cook was going.

The cook didn't give a response, but what the ship did was more than enough proof of his answer.

Maria let out a slight yelp of surprise when the boat suddenly did a complete U-turn. The amnesaic had to grip the deck railing in order to keep herself from falling overboard.

"Hey!" Franky barked. "What the hell are you doing?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Sanji called back. "I'm getting our flag back!"

"I'm not in the mood for jokes! We barely made it out of that place!"

"Calm down and think, Sanji!" Nami agreed. "We don't even know where Luffy and Chopper are!"

"Same for Zoro!" Usopp pointed out in an annoyed tone. Maria nodded in agreement.

"The best thing we can do right now is stay put until we regroup!" Nami declared.

"I'm sorry, but we can't afford to sit still," Sanji replied in a serious tone. "A pirate's flag is more important than a pirate's life. There's no greater shame than having it stolen."

Maria stiffened a little when she heard that. "Oh yeah...." She frowned for a moment, biting her lower lip a little before muttering, "Drum Kingdom...Luffy said the same thing there when Chopper was facing Wapol."

"I know that," Usopp agreed, "but don't you think we should go off and find our captain before we--"

"You're not listening to me, damnit!" Sanji roared. "Think you guys -- do you want to be the one to tell our captain that we lost the flag?!"

Maria's blue eyes widened, and she instantly remembered the destruction that had taken place in Enies Lobby when Luffy and Lucci had been fighting. The entire room they had been in was blown to pieces, practically -- and just because Luffy was using his fists!

A shudder ran through the amnesiac. "I do not want to be at the brunt of his anger."

"Keep steering!" Nami yelled.

"There's no way I'm telling him!" Usopp agreed.

"WE TOTALLY REFUSE TO BE SCOLDED BY THAT IDIOT!!!" the navigator and the sniper yelled at the top of their lungs.

Maria looked at the two of them in surprise. "Scolded?"

"That's their reason?" Franky asked, unbelieving. "Really?"

Robin chuckled to herself, seemingly amused.

Maria shook her head. "I'm more afraid of what his fists will do to us when he finds out."

"If," Robin corrected.

"All right," Sanji stated from his position at the helm. "Let's do this."

As the ship started to drift back into the Frozen Highway, a large iceberg suddenly started to drift into their path, blocking off any way forward.

"Again?" Sanji asked in annoyance as Maria and the others came up onto the upper deck. "Seriously?"

"What is up with this ice?" Usopp demanded. "It's stopped moving!"

"Doesn't look like we're going anywhere until we figure out what's making these icebergs act this way," Nami commented, frowning.

"Well, I've got no idea," Maria commented, shrugging. "Like I said before, this place kinda reminds me of a Mystery Dungeon."

"Franky?"

"Huh?" The cyborg looked over at Nami.

"You feel up to doing a little reconnaissance work with me?"

Franky and Maria frowned in confusion upon hearing that.

"What are you talking about?" Maria asked.

"I'm talking about one of the surprises that Franky has in that Dock system of his," Nami replied, giving the cyborg a pointed expression.

"What? Since when would you know about that?" Franky asked, scowling.

"I made it a point to know every single inch of this ship -- and what's going on in it for the sake of everything involving money. Did you really think that something like that would go unnoticed?" Nami gave a pointed smirk.

"Everything involving money...?" Maria frowned at Nami in confusion. "Does that mean you track everything that we buy?"

"Not necessarily. If its books and things that I know won't do any damage, that's just fine. If it's anything else that could possibly be used to our advantage, well...." Nami's smirk became a little wider.

Franky gave a grin that didn't look quite as full as it could have. "Well, in that case, we'd better head down to Channel 3."

"Channel 3?" Sanji blinked in confusion.

"Yup. That's where I'm hiding one of our new gadgets." Franky's grin became a little wider. "It's a submarine."

Maria's head turned sharply when she heard that, the word ringing in the back of her mind like some kind of exciting dream. "Submarine? Like, go underwater?"

"Well, yeah. It can really only hold two people, though, so if you want a ride, you'll have to come along later."

Maria gained a scowling expression as the feeling of excitement dimmed somewhat. The amnesiac let out a sigh. "All right. Fine."

Franky chuckled, then walked past Maria and down onto the main deck, where he reached down into the lawn and suddenly pulled up what looked like a circular hatch. "Come on, Nami! You said you wanted to have a look around, right?"

"Yeah!" Nami moved down onto the main deck, then followed Franky down the hatch. The top closed behind the navigator, leaving the main deck seemingly unmarred by any sort of clear signs of a door.

Sanji scowled and muttered something under his breath as he moved over to the helm, fingering the lever that was on the wheel itself for a moment before starting to pull on it, shifting the numbers.

"Soldier Dock System Channel 3!" the cook declared loudly, shifting the numbers on the helm and pulling the lever next to the wheel.

"Right! This is Shark Submerge number 3, now dispatching!"

Maria stiffened a little in surprise upon hearing Franky's voice, and she looked around in order to find the source. While she didn't catch sight of Franky himself, there must have been something nearby that was projecting his voice.

"Come on," Sanji muttered. "It's obvious that we're not going to be moving for a while." He turned and walked away from the helm, Maria and the others following after him.

"Where are we going?" Maria asked, looking up at the cook.

"Where we can hear Nami-san," Sanji responded simply. The cook led them down onto the main deck and over to a large Snail Phone that was sitting on a bench surrounding the main mast. Much to Maria's surprise, the thing was beeping.

Sanji picked up the receiver with a calm expression, Usopp, Maria, and Robin moving in around the cook.

"Sanji, am I coming through?" Nami asked via the snail.

"Thanks for ignoring me," Franky muttered from somewhere nearby.

Maria frowned slightly. Franky must have been talking about something before they had picked up...but what?

"Yeah, I can hear you loud and clear, Nami," Sanji responded. "You guys seeing anything down there?"

"Umm...I doubt we're gonna find anything until we descend a little further. Franky, can you take us down underneath the icebergs?"

"You got it!" came Franky's response.

"Underneath the icebergs?" Maria repeated, blinking. "What does she think she's going to be able to find underneath them?"

"That is an interesting question," Robin agreed.

"Huh?" Nami sounded slightly confused. "What's that?"

"What's going on, Nami?" Sanji asked, frowning slightly.

"Did you spot something out there?" Franky asked.

"Can you lower the speed so that I can get a better look?" Nami asked. "Stop right here!"

"What is it?" Maria asked, looking up at the receiver Sanji was holding. "Did you find something?"

"What in the world is that?" Nami muttered, ignoring Maria's question. A moment later came a nervous gasp. "I think we found 'em!"

"What?" Maria asked in confusion -- only for her to blink in shock when Franky asked the same thing at the same time.

"I don't know," the navigator responded. A moment later, there came a panicked yelp. "They saw us! They're headed this way!"

"What is headed this way?" Franky demanded in an annoyed voice.

Maria frowned in concern, considering what Nami had just said. "They...?"

"Just turn around!" Nami ordered.

Moments later, the two of them started yelling in panicked voices.

"Hey, what's going on?" Sanji demanded. "Answer me!"

Maria bit her lower lip in worry, then flinched a little when she suddenly got a quick picture of something in her mind.

"Uh, Sanji, I think they might have found the reason that the icebergs are moving around...." Maria murmured nervously.

Right then, there came the sound of icebergs moving, and it looked like there was something moving under the water towards them.

"There!" Usopp exclaimed, pointing out across the water. The group of four watched the dark mass swim under the boat, quickly running to the other side in order to see where it had disappeared to.

"Damn," Sanji cursed as the dark mass disappeared from sight. "Nami! Come back!"

Maria looked down at the waterline where the iceberg next to the ship disappeared under the surface. "I don't think yelling is going to help us at this point," she commented grimly.

There came a loud noise from behind them, and the group turned around, only to let out yells of shock when they saw the iceberg careening towards them.

"Uh oh," Maria yelped. "Don't sink the ship! Please!"

The amnesiac quickly learned that her prayer was answered -- but at a heavy price.

The water underneath the ship suddenly shifted, and the Sunny was suddenly pushed upwards, sending the group flying upward and off the ship.

Maria let out a yell of surprise as she flew up above the ship. "Not good! That water has to be freezing cold!"

"We have to stay with the ship!" Robin called. She started sprouting hands from her own hands, reaching the deck railing of the ship and also reaching out for Maria, Usopp, and Sanji. "Grab on!"

Somehow, someway, Maria was able to latch onto Robin's chain of hands and arms. However, the others weren't able to be reached in time.

"They're too far!" Robin called in alarm.

"Sanji! Usopp!" Maria yelled after the two teens as they disappeared over an iceberg. Then the amnesiac felt gravity take hold, and she, Robin, and the ship suddenly dropped back to the sea, sending up a large geyser of water as a result.

Maria slammed into the main deck next to Robin, letting out a gasp as the wind was knocked out of her. The ship continued to rock as the amnesiac let out a loud cough, rolling over onto her back for a moment in order to help get her breath back.

"Are you all right?"

Maria looked up when she heard Robin's voice, and, seeing the hand being held out to her, she grabbed it and used it in order to pull herself to her feet.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Maria managed in reply, nodding. "Just...a bit winded, that's all."

There came a child-like giggle from somewhere nearby, causing Maria to frown before turning her head in the direction of the laugh.

"Will you play with me?" asked the blue-haired girl sitting on the bench around the mast. "It'll be fun."

"Who are you exactly?" Robin asked coldly.

Maria's right hand twitched. "I don't like the sound of her question...."

"My name is Lil," the little girl stated with a slight smile. "So, you do wanna play, right?"

Maria's eyes narrowed, and she started to lift up her right arm in order to summon her phoenix-headed staff, but Robin put an arm in front of the amnesiac, forcing her to pause.

"Just play along," Robin murmured quietly. "If she is a threat, I know that neither one of us will have a problem putting a stop to her."

Maria looked at Robin in surprise at the statement before giving a slight frown. "All right...if you say so...."


	55. Games and Memories

"Your ship is really cute," Lil commented from where she sat on the bench.

Neither Maria nor Robin had moved since the archeologist had stopped the amnesiac from going after the little blue-haired girl, and Lil had decided to break the silence after a moment.

"Does it have a name?" Lil slipped off the bench and looked up at Maria and Robin expectantly.

"Of course," Robin replied with a slight chuckle. "It's called the _Thousand Sunny_."

Maria looked at Robin warily, wondering why the archeologist had decided to tell the little girl that when she was clearly one of the bad guys.

" _Thousand Sunny_?" Lil moved her hands behind her back and gave a smile. "And you? What are your names?"

"My name?" Robin chuckled again. "My name's Robin. Nico Robin. And this is Maria." The dark-haired woman motioned to Maria, who, gave a slight, wary nod.

Lil cocked her head to one side. "Robin and Maria, huh?"

"Yes," Robin replied easily. "I saw you earlier, didn't I?"

"You noticed me?" Lil asked with slight surprise.

"Of course I did." Robin started moving forward. "You surprised me the way you came out of nowhere."

"Robin, what are you doing?" Maria asked from where she was standing.

"So, Lil," Robin continued, kneeling in front of the little girl, "do you happen to know any of the ship's crew?"

 _"Thousand Sunny_ 's crew?" Lil repeated. She looked away slyly across the deck. "I don't think so."

"I see. Then perhaps you could tell me--"

"But I do know where it's flag is being hidden."

Maria and Robin looked at the little girl in shock.

"The flag?" Maria repeated, daring a glance up at the empty flagpole above their heads.

"You're looking for it, right?" Lil asked, an innocently curious expression on her face.

"So where is it?" Robin asked. Maria started to hesitantly move forward herself, remaining behind Robin.

Lil looked away from the duo, an uncomfortable expression on her face.

"Won't you please tell me?" Robin asked.

"Maybe...." Lil looked back at Robin. "If you...."

Maria frowned in confusion.

"If we...." Robin prompted.

"If you play with me! Play a game with me, and then I'll tell you."

Maria frowned slightly. "A game...?"

"All right, I'll play with you," Robin stated with a slight chuckle.

An excited look crossed Lil's face, and to Maria's surprise, the amnesiac got the feeling that the expression was genuine.

"Really?" Lil asked in amazement. She gave a short jump into the air. "Awesome!"

Maria blinked in confusion upon seeing the reaction. "Why?"

Lil looked up at the amnesiac with a fading smile that changed quickly into a frown. "You see, my big sister won't play with me lately. She's busy playing with _Salchow._ So, she ignores me to be with that jerk."

Maria gained a slight frown. "Salchow...is that the name of that figure skater guy?"

"Yup." Lil made a disgusted face.

"I was considering taking him out earlier if only to get him to stop kissing." Maria scowled at the memory. "Definitely a fireball to the face."

Lil blinked a couple times, then frowned. "That doesn't sound very nice."

"Well, could you think of anything else that could have stopped them?" Maria countered, smirking in a playful manner. There was something about this kid that was making the amnesiac feel relaxed, somehow.

Lil paused for a moment, then shrugged.

"Exactly my point." Maria shrugged in response to Lil's shrug.

Lil giggled a little bit, then looked up at Maria with a curious expression. "You said you were going to throw a fireball? How?"

"It's just something that I can do." Maria gave a half-shrug, then held up her left hand. Fire coated her fingers, licking up her orange jacket and ending at her elbow before sliding forward and forming into a small fireball. The amnesiac frowned at it, then twitched her fingers slightly as she muttered under her breath.

"Come on, come on...." The flames suddenly shifted, and a delighted grin crossed Maria's face as the fire shifted into the Straw Hat's mark. Moments later, the fire dispersed.

Lil looked at the fire in amazement before looking up at Maria. "Wow! That's so cool! Did you eat a Devil Fruit?"

Maria chuckled quietly. "Yeah."

Robin sent Maria a look for a moment, and understanding crossed her face before she looked back at Lil.

"She isn't the only one with Devil Fruit powers," Robin stated with some amusement. She crossed her arms over her chest, causing multiple arms to sprout up from the grass.

"Wow...." Lil looked around her with an expression of amazement.

One hand that was close to Robin's reached into a pocket of her pants and pulled out a small coin that was tossed over into the circle of hands that was now surrounding Lil. The coin passed between the hands at lightning speed before all of them clamped shut at once.

"So, which hand do you think the coin is in?" Robin asked, looking at the confused Lil with an amused expression.

"Gimmie a second...." Lil looked around at the hands, an expression of concentration appearing on her face. "It's this one!" She pointed at one of the hands, which opened up to reveal an exact copy of Robin's eye.

"I thought it was just your arms," Maria commented, looking over at Robin in surprise.

The archeologist simply gave the amnesiac an amused smile.

Lil made a noise of disappointment.

"So, Lil," Robin started.

"What?" Lil crossed her arms across her chest in a motion that Maria took to mean that she was annoyed.

"Where do you think they could be hiding the flag?" Robin asked.

Lil tuned her back on the archeologist and the amnesiac. "I don't know."

"Or...you just don't want to tell me," Robin guessed, lowering her arms and looking at Lil with an expectant expression.

"Don't know!" Lil repeated, sounding annoyed.

Robin gave a sigh, then lifted her arms again. Two more hands sprouted from the lawn and started to tickle at Lil's sides.

The blue-haired girl started laughing. "O-okay! S-stop! I'll tell you where it is! I'll tell you!"

"Really?" Robin asked, sounding amused.

"Yes, really!"

Maria chuckled, amused herself at the display that was being shown before her.

The hands disappeared back into the lawn, leaving a bright piece of metal flickering in front of Robin; the archeologist picked it up while Lil was still trying to catch her breath from the tickle fest.

"They keep the flags in Papa's room," Lil explained, looking back at Maria and Robin.

"Papa?" Maria repeated, frowning.

"Yup! And he has a pretty big collection of them, too -- a whole roomfull of pirate flags!" Lil smiled at the thought.

Maria's frown deepened, and she exchanged a glance with Robin.

"That many, huh?" Robin asked, looking back at Lil.

Lil gave a nod. "Today's our papa's big birthday party! Everyone's out trying to get him the best present they can!"

"So the flag's his present?" Robin asked.

"No." Lil frowned at the archeologist. "Bad guess." She turned and started digging through the heart-shaped bag that she was carrying, pulling out sheets of paper that she spread out on the deck. "These are the presents."

Maria's eyes widened while Robin let out a gasp of shock. "The bounties...!"

"He's got a 300 million bounty," Lil stated, pointing at the wanted poster of Monkey D. Luffy. "This one has a hundred and twenty million bounty." She tapped Zoro's poster with a mittened finger. "There's a forty-four million bounty for this guy." Lil reached Franky's poster.

"And then you two!" Lil picked up two sheets of paper and held them up for Maria and Robin to see. She grinned in a sinister fashion at them. "Their's an eighty-million bounty on your head, and a thirty-five million bounty on yours. Isn't there?"

Maria's eyes narrowed at the little girl. "You little sneak -- I thought you were one of the people who had caused us to get stuck here in the first place!"

As soon as those words had slipped out of Maria's mouth, the muted sound of a snail going off reach the group's ears.

Lil gained a look of surprise on her face, and she quickly put down the two wanted posters she was holding before going and digging in her bag again, pulling out a small Snail Phone.

"Yeah?" Lil asked as she picked up the receiver. "What is it? Right? Yeah? Two? Well, that's pretty good."

Maria frowned in confusion. _Why is it that I can't hear the other side of the conversation? I've heard them before, so why stop now?_

"Sure!" Lil stated again. "Okay. I understand." She put down the receiver and hid the Snail Phone again before letting out a sigh and getting up to her feet.

Maria frowned after the little girl as she walked over to one side of the ship and dropped something into the water. Moments later, a large flock of something came flying up out of the water.

"Go, flying fish!" Lil proclaimed as the bird-fish went flying above the ship. Then she turned and walked back towards Maria and Robin.

"Okay, let's get back to the game." Lil sat down in front of the wanted posters, looking down at them with vague interest.

"What happened?" Robin asked.

Lil looked over at the archeologist. "That was one of my older brothers. He captured two of the bounties." The little girl pointed down at the posters in front of her. "This one and this one."

Maria's eyes widened. "Nami and Franky," she identified in surprise.

"But forget about that -- I wanna play some more!" Lil looked up at Maria and Robin with a pleading expression. "Come on!"

"Right; of course." Robin gave a nervous smile. "But wouldn't it be more fun if we played at your house?"

Maria looked at the dark-haired woman in shock while Lil gave Robin a curious expression.

"Have you lost your senses?" Maria demanded.

"Huh? You actually wanna go play at my house?" Lil asked, surprised.

"Sure. Will you take us there?"

Lil gave a delighted smile. "Yes!"

Maria gained an uneasy expression. "I'm not so sure...."

"Maria, relax." Robin looked over at the amnesiac with a calm expression. "Trust me; I know what I'm doing."

"That may be, but...." Maria bit her lower lip for a moment. "I guess I don't have much of a choice, do I?"

"Not anymore," the archeologist responded.

The amnesiac let out a sigh, then collapsed down onto the lawn; at the same time, Lil rose to her feet and moved to the edge of the deck again before tossing something out into the water. Moments later, the entire ship started moving with a sudden jolt, picking up speed easily.

"There," Lil said with a smile, moving back to sit in front of the wanted posters. "My friends will take us to my house."

Maria blinked in confusion for a moment; what exactly had the little girl done to get the ship moving without the wind? Was it like the icebergs?

The blue-eyed teen rubbed her head, a scowl coming across her face when she caught sight of dark shadows moving in what appeared to be water.

 _Probably more along the lines of those flying fish,_ Maria mentally muttered to herself, frowning as she still rubbed her head.

**Time Break**

"Just a little further; then we'll be home," Lil stated, glancing behind her.

"So, as of right now," Robin spoke up, "this person, and this person are also headed to your house?" She pointed to Nami's and Franky's bounties in turn.

Maria glanced over at the two from where she was sitting, her back turned to both the wanted posters and Lil. The sight of the moving creatures underneath the water had unnerved her somewhat, making the amnesiac wonder if there were Pokemon under Lil's control...or even if she had heard of them.

"Yup! My brother Hockera should arrive there with them at any minute." Lil glanced back at the sea ahead of the Sunny.

Robin gave a slight hum of interest. "Is that why you needed to send out the flying fish? For his sake?"

"Uh huh. He needed to drag the strange, shark-looking thing he trapped them in."

Maria stiffened a little. "The sub...." A quick vision flashed through her mind of something that looked like a giant, yellow orb of light, criss-crossed with metal, but then it was gone a moment later.

The amnesiac shook her head, clearing out the strange flash. "If he's dragging them in it, then it's probably still useable, at least." Maria bit her lower lip in thought. "Maybe...."

"You seem kinda different."

The amnesiac stiffened slightly when she heard Lil's voice, and she glanced back, only to see that the blue-haired girl was looking in her direction.

"...What do you mean?" Maria asked in a cautious tone.

"You don't look mean," Lil stated simply.

Maria glanced down at the posters for a moment. "Robin doesn't look mean in real life," she commented, glancing back up at the girl.

"Yeah, but you look mean _er_ in the poster." Lil tapped Maria's picture almost meaningfully. "All that fire makes you look like a demon."

"I ate a Devil Fruit, didn't I? Doesn't that make me one?" the amnesiac countered. "Don't judge a book by it's cover. Sometimes they can hold more secrets than even the book itself knows about." With that, she turned back around and looked up at the place where the pirate flag had been flying.

"What does that mean?" Lil asked in confusion.

"It means that Maria has amnesia," Robin responded gently. "She can't remember who she was from before she met us."

"I'm getting better," Maria muttered under her breath in a snarky tone.

"Really?" Lil sounded amazed. "She can't remember anything?"

"Some things," Robin corrected, "but everything else is in the dark. Including when she ate her Devil Fruit."

"Wow...."

Maria ducked down a little more, scowling as she rested her arms across her knees, which she had pulled up to her chest while she glared at the empty mast above her head.

"It doesn't necessarily _help_ that everything around me is reminding me of what I _can_ remember," Maria muttered, scowling.

"Oh?" came Lil's curious voice.

"Yes. This entire... _Frozen Highway_ is nothing but a glorified Mystery Dungeon." Maria gave a wave to the ice walls around them as an iceberg rumbled away from the ship's path. "I wouldn't be surprised if there are a few Pokemon in your arsenal waiting to be used to blast some enemy ship to pieces."

"Pokemon?" Lil sounded even more confused. "That's just some kind of fairy tale that my big sister used to tell me. They aren't real."

Maria felt a shiver run down her spine, and she abruptly turned around in order to look at Lil with a frowning expression of confusion and shock. "What?"

Robin gained a slightly interested expression.

"I've seen Pokemon with my own eyes; I've been _turned into one_ , for Chaos' sake!" Maria turned around fully in order to lock her eyes with Lil. "Where do you think the Berry trees on top of the ship came from?" The amnesiac motioned to the back of the boat, where Maria's trees could clearly be seen. "I brought them with me somehow from where the Pokemon live."

"They may have been like Pokemon, but they aren't real Pokemon," Lil stated matter-of-factly, crossing her arms over her chest.

"You think so?" Maria raised an eyebrow. "All right. Describe what you think a Pokemon looks like, and I'll show you one with my fire." She held up a hand, flames jumping from her fingers.

Lil scowled, then gained a thoughtful expression. "I really liked this one that my big sister always described to me: it looked like a penguin, but it was really round, and waddled all over the place. It was supposed to be really proud, too." The little girl giggled a little at the thought.

Maria frowned slightly, then her expression brightened a moment later. "You're talking about a Piplup!"

"A what?" Robin repeated, sounding amused.

"Piplup. They're a Pokemon given out to beginner Trainers in the Sinnoh region, an area to the north that has colder temperatures than most other areas that I've been to -- not counting Unova, but that's besides the point." Maria made a waving motion with her hands, causing the fire to appear while forcing it into a particular body shape that was clearly rounded, with two round circles making up the head and the body. "That's the basic shape, but it's actually a blue color and is absolutely adorable and cuddly when you get to know one well enough."

Lil frowned, a skeptical expression appearing on her face. "I don't know...."

Maria frowned for a moment, then let out a sigh and shook her head before waving a hand and causing the fire to disperse. "Well, I'm not exactly sure how else I might be able to get around to showing you. It's not like I can...I dunno, show you my memories or anything."

As though the amnesiac had said the magic words, the air in front of her shimmered somewhat, causing the grass to warp before shifting to what looked like ice and snow. A single, solitary blue penguin was sitting on a snow mound, looking somewhat dejected.

_"Hey, are you all right?" A bright red fox with six tails came bounding over to the snow mound._

_The round, blue penguin lifted its head to look at the fox before scowling and turning to look in a different direction. "I'm just fine."_

_The fox gained a confused expression. "Huh? But you were just crying a moment ago."_

_"Piplup are kind of like that, from what I've heard." A yellow mouse with a thunderbolt-shaped tail walked over on its hind legs. "They're proud Pokemon, and don't really like asking for help from anyone unless they really have to. It's obvious that this one isn't that desperate yet."_

_The fox frowned at the Piplup for a moment before turning to look at the mouse. "If you say so...."_

The ice and snow warped away, leaving Maria, Robin, and Lil sitting with confused and surprised expressions on the grass of the Sunny.

"Whoa...." Maria looked down at her hands. "How did I _do_ that?"

"It may have something to do with the heat of your fire and the cold of the ice around us," Robin commented, quick to recover from the sight that she had just seen. "However, I don't know how you managed to get the voices to be heard, as well."

"Yeah, that's a mystery." Maria frowned at her hands. "If only I could remember who I was, then maybe I might be able to get some answers."

Lil, who was staring wide-eyed at Maria, shook her head before gaining an excited expression. "Does this mean that Pokemon are really real?"

"Yup." Maria raised her eyes to look at the blue-haired girl. "Pretty much. Though I haven't seen any around here as of late...it's kinda unnerving, now that I really think about it." Maria rubbed the back of her head and looked away for a moment, looking out over the icebergs with a nervous, confused expression. Her eyebrows sank down into a slight frown. "I'm not exactly sure what I should do about it...."

"Maybe they're not around here," Lil suggested.

Maria gave a nervous-sounding hum as her frown deepened. "Maybe...." She gained more of a scowling expression. "Still, though, it's pretty weird...."

The boat suddenly came to a stop, causing Maria to look away from the icebergs.

"We're here!" Lil exclaimed excitedly.

Maria turned as the little blue-haired girl got up from the lawn and ran over to the front of the ship. The amnesiac blinked a couple times in confusion at what it was that was in front of them.

"Is that a _house_ incased in the ice?" Maria asked, blinking a couple times.

"Yup! This is Lovely Land, my house!" Lil motioned to the bright yellow building that was covered in ice in front of them. There were even _palm_ _trees_.

"Looks like it should be somewhere where it isn't all snowy," Maria commented, getting to her feet. "Like, maybe further south?"

"Position makes no difference on the Grand Line, Maria," Robin intoned, also rising to her feet. "The weather here is extremely unpredictable, so location won't do you any good unless the area is known for a specific kind of weather."

"Huh. Sounds like some places that I know." Maria's thoughts went momentarily to the areas she had visited as a Pokemon and a Trainer, but she shook them from her mind. "So, now what?" Her right hand twitched a little, small embers flying from her fingertips.

Robin put a hand on the amnesiac's shoulder and squeezed it a little bit. "None of that just yet."

The amnesiac sent a glowering look at the archeologist. "Why not?"

"I have a plan that will let us get in and rescue our crewmembers without too much violence on our parts," Robin explained quietly. "Follow my lead, and we won't end up attracting attention to ourselves from the other bounty hunters."

Maria paused, considering the archeologist's train of thought. While not getting in over their heads was a good thing, Maria didn't exactly know if trusting their lives to a little girl who was more than capable of calling on sea animals to do her bidding was such a good idea.

However, considering that Robin was older than her and actually had all of her memories intact....

Maria let out an irritable sigh, her blue eyes darkening into an expression of annoyance. "All right. Fine."

Robin gave a slight nod of approval, then turned and looked at Lil, who had been watching the two expectantly. "So, where to now, Lil?"

"I can give you guys the grand tour," Lil stated, smiling slightly. "Come on; I can show you where we're keeping the other Straw Hats first."

The little blue-haired girl turned and started to move to the front of the ship.

Maria gave a grin as Robin started moving forward. "This is gonna be easy."

"I wouldn't be so sure about that," Robin responded, glancing back at the amnesiac, pausing in her movements. "If they're keeping them somewhere, it's likely that they've somehow managed to overpower or weaken them. If we're going to get them out, we're going to need to assess how exactly they're doing first."

Maria frowned. "You could just use your Devil Fruit powers to get them out of whatever mess they're in, though, right?"

"Not necessarily. If they're in a Sea Stone-lined prison cell, than any attempt with my abilities to rescue them would be made completely useless."

"Hey! Are you two coming?" Lil looked over at the two Straw Hat crew members from where she was standing on the frontal upper deck, hands on her hips.

"We are," Robin replied. She turned and looked back at Maria and gave the amnesiac a hard look. "Follow my lead."

"All right...." Maria scowled, then followed after the amnesiac towards where Lil was waiting for the two of them. "But if one thing goes wrong, I'm going to bring out my staff and do what I can to _stop_ the problem and get us all out of there."

"Fair enough."


	56. Hide-and-Seek in the Bounty Hunter Base

"It's good to see you're all energetic," Robin commented, a slight smirk playing on her face.

Maria on the other hand, looked absolutely horrified at the situation that the other Straw Hats -- minus Chopper and Luffy -- were trapped in.

Usopp, Franky, and Nami -- all sticking up out of the shark-shaped sub, looked up at the entrance to the ice pit that they were stuck in. Relieved expressions crossed their faces.

"Hey, Robin!" the trio called out, grinning.

Maria flinched a little bit at hearing the relief in their voices. She wasn't exactly looking forward to whatever was coming next, depending on whatever Robin might have had in mind.

Besides, that ice pit looked rather _cold_ , and Maria wasn't exactly sure how she'd be able to last down there with her fire powers. Already, the ice that was around them was starting to actually make her cold, which was a sensation that the amnesiac didn't necessarily like.

"Robin!" Sanji called out from below. Maria could see the cook waving his hands in the air, and dryly guessed that he had a heart instead of an eye again. "Maria!"

"Moron," Zoro replied. Maria was barely able to catch his annoyed statement because of how far the other Straw Hats were from where the amnesiac was standing. That ice pit was _deep_.

"What?" Sanji hissed, turning sharply to look at the swordsman.

Maria sighed. Even here, where it was possible that absolutely anyone could freeze to death....

"Robin! Maria!" Usopp yelled, waving his hands in the air. "Help us out of here!"

"Yeah!" Nami agreed. "We could use a hand!"

There came a thumping noise from Maria's left, and she and Robin turned their heads to look in that direction.

"Much as I don't want to admit it," Lil commented from where she was sitting nearby, hitting her feet against a metal box she was sitting on, "you should be down there with them, Big Sisters."

Maria looked down in the hole again, considering what Lil was saying. Considering that she could use fire, ice, and lightning by accessing her staff, being down there for _her_ wouldn't necessarily be too much of a problem. However, considering that the icebergs kinda acted like a natural freezer...Maria wasn't about to try and test it out.

"But I think my new friends Robin and Maria are special," Lil continued. "That's why I'm going to ask Papa to spare them. Good thing, too, because Papa will do anything I say so long as I ask nicely."

"Oh?" Robin asked, interested.

Maria sighed, and a memory flickered at the back of her mind of a similar kind of situation, when she had run into a girl who claimed that she could have whatever she wanted. It ended up turning out that the girl had a very bad temper and was an extremely spoiled brat.

 _Stupid Rich families and their bought Pokemon,_ Maria thought, scowling.

"So, are you coming to the party with me?" Lil asked, looking at the two with a sly expression that also had some hints of curiosity.

"Party?" Maria repeated, getting pulled out of her thoughts by the posed question.

"For Papa," Lil replied simply. "A gigantic birthday feast!" She spread her arms wide, as though that was a good-enough demonstration of "gigantic."

It made Maria wonder just how big Lil's family actually was. She had mentioned a Papa, her older brother, her older sister, and said sister's husband, but were there more family members?

"Well?" Lil asked slyly. "Have you said your goodbyes?"

Maria stiffened at that. "Goodbyes?"

"Yeah. You won't be seeing them again, you know."

"Robin! Maria!" Nami called up from below in a panicked voice.

"No, don't go!" Sanji added, waving his arms in the air at the two of them.

The rest of the crew followed with a jumbled mess of cries that made it sound like they wanted Robin and Maria to get them out. The only one who didn't call out in a panic and actually looked at Robin and Maria, however, was Franky. And the look on his face was so series that it actually scared the amnesiac for a moment.

Robin let out a sigh. "Right." She looked over at Lil and Maria. "Shall we get going, then?"

"You mean it?" Lil asked, clearly delighted. The excited expression probably would have been able to light up a room if the little girl was hooked up to a generator.

Maria gave a sigh and threw up her hands. If this was what Robin had in mind, she may as well run with it.

The little blue-haired girl jumped off the metal box she had been sitting and grabbed one of Maria's hands and one of Robin's. "Come on! It's this way -- follow me!" Lil started pulling them away from the ice pit.

Maria sent Robin a glower as she waved cheerily at the other members of the Straw Hat crew.

"Now we probably look like traitors to them," Maria muttered in quiet annoyance through gritted teeth.

The yells that came up from the pit below them certainly sounded like it.

Lil led them up a set of stairs carved into the ice, ending up in the brightly-colored red, orange, and yellow house that Maria and Robin had seen as soon as they had arrived.

As soon as the trio stepped onto the tiled floor and left the ice behind, Maria sensed that there was something different about the house. Not just that it wasn't made of ice -- the temperature inside the house was a lot warmer than it was back in the ice pit. Warm enough to make ice melt off the window sills, in fact.

That sight alone caused Maria and Robin to pause.

"Interesting," Robin commented, eyeing the windowsill.

"Is there something wrong?" Lil asked, noticing that the two had stopped walking down the hallway.

"Does it seem hot in here to you?" Robin asked.

"Actually, I'm pretty comfortable," Maria commented, rubbing one arm.

Lil gained a look of surprise before turning her attention to a red door that was on the left side of the hall. "Oh, no!" She ran over to the door and looked inside. "I was afraid of this. Papa is angry...."

"Angry?" Maria repeated, blinking a couple times as she and Robin came over to the door. "Is that why it's so warm compared to outside?"

"I guess so. We should probably come back later. It's better to stay away when Papa gets like this." Lil looked up at Robin and Maria, who remained far enough out of sight of the windows so that the people on the other side of the door wouldn't see them. However, Maria and Robin could still see the figures who were inside.

Maria eyed the large figure lying on what looked like an ice-block, a cigar in his mouth and a rather unpleasant expression on his face. There were two men standing in front of him -- they seemed to be identical, except that one wore a red shirt and the other wore a blue shirt.

And all over the walls and hanging from the ceiling was what looked like a large collection of pirate flags.

"I see," Robin commented.

"At this rate, everything around here is going to melt away," Lil continued in a slightly panicked voice.

"How does he do it?" Maria asked, eyeing the steam that was filling the room. "It looks like it's a sauna in there or something."

"That's because of his Devil Fruit powers. It's connected to his anger, so we have to be really careful." Lil tugged on Robin's purple jacket. "Come on, let's go play in my room."

"Devil Fruit?" Maria repeated, muttering to herself as a frown flickered across her face.

"Say, do you think it would be all right to be those snacks and that juice with us?" Robin asked, pointing through the window on the door.

Maria and Lil both looked through the window, and the amnesiac caught sight of a table covered in food near where "Papa" just so happened to be lying, scowling.

"They don't taste very good when they're hot, you know," Lil commented in an annoyed tone, looking back up at Robin.

Maria gave the older woman a curious expression, frowning slightly as though she was trying to figure the woman out.

Robin gave a slight laugh. "Thanks, but I don't mind. Besides, it's part of another favor I have in mind."

"Huh?" Lil blinked a couple times.

"Well, you want the Straw Hats to actually live long enough for your papa to see his presents, right? We should probably make sure that they're well-fed."

Lil frowned, considering Robin's statement, before giving a nod. "I don't see why not."

She turned and motioned for a man at the end of the hall to come over; Maria raised an eyebrow at the strange outfit he was wearing and at the life preserver that was hugging his waist.

"Could you go and get some of the food and the soda that's in there?" Lil asked sweetly, pointing to the steaming room on the other side of the door. "And give it to the Straw Hats we have captive -- we don't want them to die of starvation before Papa gets to see them, right?"

The man hesitated for a moment, then gave a nod before slipping inside. He came out a few minutes later with a small sack; Maria could clearly see three purple bottles sticking up out the top before the guard pushed them down again.

"And you want me to take them to the Straw Hats?" the guard asked.

Lil gave a nod. "Now go!"

As soon as the guard had scurried off, Lil looked up at Robin and Maria.

"Now can we go to my room?" she asked.

"Of course," Robin replied easily. "Lead the way." She made a motion to the hall with one hand, and Lil promptly started moving down the hall again. Maria and Robin followed after her.

Maria glanced back down the hall at the room that they had left behind, feeling the heat in the air remaining at a steady temperature. She wondered what kind of Devil Fruit this "Papa" guy had that let him turn on the heat so much. Maybe...he could produce it? She knew a few Pokemon who had been capable of doing that, but...nothing to the extent that this guy could do.

"Just how powerful are Devil Fruits, exactly?" Maria asked, turning her attention to Robin with a curious expression.

"I believe that it depends on the person who finds the Devil Fruit," Robin responded. "Some people may think that certain fruits aren't actually useful at all, and most of the so-called useless ones belong among the Paramecias. It's said that if the user is extremely creative, they can become extremely powerful. However, it depends on how far their powers can go."

"Like yours and Luffy's, right?"

"Right. Being made of rubber might be seen as a disadvantage to some people, but if that power could be used by a creative mind, then all sorts of things might end up happening. For instance, I suppose Luffy didn't figure out that he was immune to bullets until someone actually shot him after he gained his Devil Fruit abilities."

Maria gave a nod. "I guess that makes sense."

"I think Zoan Types are the best," Lil announced. "That way, you can transform into an animal that could represent you the best."

"But what if you eat a fruit that would turn you into something you hated?" Robin countered gently. "You would be stuck with it for the rest of your life, you know."

Lil frowned, considering the archeologist's words. She might have opened her mouth to respond to the statement were it not for the loud yell that suddenly rocked the hallway.

"HEY, YOU!!!"

Maria stopped short as soon as she heard the yell, stiffening as the hairs on the back of her neck seemed to rise.

"GIVE ME BACK OUR FLAG!!!!"

"Luffy?" Maria asked in shock. She was shaken at how angry the Straw Hat captain sounded. Her head turned to look out a nearby window, and she caught sight of a familiar boat with a phoenix head on the bow coming toward them.

"Sure enough," Robin commented, an amused look appearing on her face. She came over to the window and watched as Luffy and two other, smaller figures -- Maria guessed that one was Chopper -- got out of a rowboat and stood on the ice in front of the building that Lil called home.

"HEY!! GIVE ME BACK OUR FLAG!!!"

"How did he even learn that it was gone in the first place, though?" Maria asked, frowning. She glanced over at Robin curiously.

"My only guess is that he was told about it by someone," Robin commented in reply, thoughtful. "I doubt that anything will be left standing when he's done looking for our flag."

A little bit further down the hall, there came the sound of someone yelling. _Familiar_ someones yelling.

"I'm going to go check on something," Robin commented. "I'll be right back, okay?"

Lil frowned. "Why?"

"I just want to explore down this hall for a little while." Robin pointed off down a curving hall that was connected to the one Lil had been leading them down.

"But...that's not the way to my room."

"I'm just a little curious, all right? I'll come right back. Until then, Maria can stay with you."

Maria opened her mouth to protest the idea, but when she saw the look that was on Robin's face and the slightly concerned look that Lil had on hers, the amnesiac hesitated.

After a moment, Maria let out a sigh. "All right, I'll stay. But if I sense that there's so much as one thing wrong, I'm going to go looking for you."

There was an amused sparkle in Robin's eyes, but she said nothing to dissuade Maria from her statement. Instead, she turned and started walking down the hall, disappearing a few seconds later.

Lil watched Robin go with a nervous expression, then turned her attention to Maria. "Your Devil Fruit powers...they're a Paramecia, right?"

"...I guess." Maria shrugged. "I don't exactly remember eating the fruit because of my amnesia, but I don't transform into an animal and I haven't literally morphed into lightning, ice, or fire. I know the fire one's already taken."

"Ice is, too," Lil commented. "One of the Navy Admirals has it. His name's Aokiji."

"Admiral?" Maria repeated. "Is that the strongest they have?"

"Nope. There's Fleet Admiral, but that's Sengoku. It's said that he used to work side by side with Vice Admiral Garp, before the Pirate King was executed." Lil frowned, a thoughtful expression coming over her face. "But the three Admirals are pretty strong, though. I don't think anybody'd be able to go up against them -- even if they went all out."

Maria paused to consider that. If Admirals were that strong, then they were going to have to be careful in case they end up running into them in the future.

"Robin's been gone for a long time," Lil commented, bringing Maria out of her thoughts. "We should probably go look for her."

"Yeah...." Maria frowned, wondering what it was that Robin was up to. "We'd better go find her...before she ends up running into one of your family members or something when they don't know about what you're hoping to do."

Maria didn't like the words that ended up coming off her tongue, but there really wasn't all that much that she could do about really speaking her mind.

Lil nodded in agreement. "Exactly. Come on." She turned and led Maria down the hallway that Robin had disappeared down; the duo came out a few moments later in a circular chamber that had stairs running up the walls.

"And you guys don't have railings on these things?" Maria asked, frowning. "What if someone falls off the edge or something?"

Lil shrugged, giving Maria an indifferent expression before turning to look down the stairs. Maria followed the little girl's gaze and was surprised to find that Robin was coming up the stairs towards them.

"Hey, Robin," Lil greeted, startling Robin. "What are you doing? Are you playing hide and seek all by yourself?"

"Actually, I was hoping to have a peep at your Papa's room," Robin responded

Lil's papa's room? Maria frowned when she heard that. Why was that so important?

It took Maria a moment to remember that there were a lot of flags hanging in that room...so it was possible that the Straw Hat flag was hanging in there, too.

"Oh, I see," Lil said. "You want to meet Papa." She turned and motioned for Maria and Robin to follow her, then started back the way they had come.

"Was that why you went off in that direction?" Maria asked Robin quietly.

"Partly. You remember the bottles of cola that went with the food to the others?"

Maria blinked a couple times. "Yeah...."

"Let's just say that one of our friends needed them as a refill."

Confusion flickered across Maria's face for a moment before she realized who it was that Robin was referring to. A smirk came over her face, and Robin gave a slight nod in response.

Eventually, Lil ended up leading them down multiple corridors and into a room that looked -- and felt -- exactly like a greenhouse.

"This path will take us right to Papa's room," Lil commented, walking along the dirt path that ran through the grass in the greenhouse. "It's not far away, and it's a really fun place, too."

Maria rubbed her left arm, looking around at all the green. It shocked her just how much the house was different on the inside from what was outside. Maybe it was to make sure that they wouldn't get too sick with one season 24/7.

Lil stopped on the path and smiled at a bush of red flowers before turning to look at Maria and Robin. "You like to look at pretty flowers, don't you?"

"Yes," Robin admitted.

"Depends on the flower," Maria commented, remembering her encounters with Pokemon in the past. "There are some kinds that aren't exactly the friendly type."

"My sister Arabell used to love this place. We used to take walks in here all the time." Lil looked further down the path, kicking her feet in the dirt. "But then, everything changed when she married that gross old loser."

Maria's nose crinkled up in disgust when she remembered the two kissing right in front of the entire crew. A gagging noise made its way out of her mouth.

A giggle made its way out of Lil, and she turned and looked at Robin. "Hey, you wanna play that game again? The one where you hide the coin and I try to find it? Please? Come on!"

Robin didn't say anything for a moment, then bowed her head a little.

"So, tell me, Lil...why did you tell us a lie?"

Maria gave Robin a curious look as soon as the woman asked those words. A frown flickered across the amnesiac's face, and then she looked over at Lil. The young girl had a slight smile on her face, but it didn't exactly look sincere.

"This garden may be pretty, but it's not leading us to your father at all, is it?" Robin continued softly. "Am I right?"

"It's only fair, don't you think, considering that you told me a lie, too?" Lil responded.

"What?" Maria looked back and forth between Lil and Robin in confusion.

"You said you'd stay here and play with me, but you're planning on leaving with your flag," Lil continued. "Aren't you?"

 _Uh oh...._ Maria swallowed nervously.

"Too bad, cause there's no way to escape this place. You're going to stay here with me."

Maria didn't like the sound of that. Sparks of fire started to form on the tips of her fingers, and she started to consider what would happen if she tried to blast a way out the side of the building, flag or no flag.

"I'm sorry, Lil, but--"

Robin's voice was suddenly cut short with a gasp, causing Maria to turn her head sharply. The amnesiac's eyes widened a moment later when she caught sight of the archeologist's dilemma.

Robin was suspended in the air by vines that were wrapped around her arms, legs, and waist.

"What are you doing?" Robin demanded in a slightly shaking voice.

"If you promise me to remain my big sisters forever, then I promise to save you from those plants," Lil replied simply.

Maria smirked and clenched her fists, which quickly became covered in fire. "Do you really think that something like that is going to keep us here? Fire Sphere!"

Maria made a motion with one hand like she was throwing a ball, and a ball of flames was sent flying towards one of the vines that was holding onto Robin.

However, as soon as it came into contact with the vine, the flames dispersed, leaving not so much as a burn scar.

Maria took a step back, confused. "What?"

"Did you really think that we would have plants that would easily catch on fire?" Lil asked, amused. "Papa makes the air so hot that stuff gets set on fire all on its own, so we needed plants that wouldn't do that."

More vines began to snake out of the grass, and while Maria continued to try and hit them with Fire Spheres, it wasn't exactly working. As a result, she still found herself held aloft by the vines like Robin was, but the vines made sure that Maria was wrapped in a cocoon of vines from the neck down rather than just gripping her limbs and waist.

And that's when Maria saw the creature that was connected to the vines.

"Aw, great," Maria muttered, scowling. "You didn't tell me you had a plant mix of Carnivine and Victreebel here." She glared at the giant venus fly trap that was behind Robin, and the monster clearly looked hungry.

"I can get you away from him," Lil offered again, "but you have to promise to be my big sisters. So, what'll it be?"


	57. We're Gettng Our Flag Back!

"Please, Robin, Maria, give up! Please say you'll stay with me and be my big sisters forever! Promise you won't leave, and I won't have to hurt you!"

Maria frowned at the little blue-haired girl below them, her expression clearly saying that she was thinking otherwise about their present situation. She pulled against the vines that were cocooning her, even going as far as causing fire to explode into being on her hands, but nothing she did worked.

"We can't do that, Lil," Robin responded from where she was bound. "I'm sorry."

Lil frowned. "But why not?"

"There you are!"

"Robin! Maria!"

Maria turned her head away from Lil, catching sight of two very familiar figures standing at the entrance to the green house. "Sanji! Usopp! Boy, am I glad to see you!"

"Your friends can't beat Papa, this is the only way!" Lil continued, ignoring the two arrivals.

The vines suddenly started to tighten around Maria and Robin, causing a yelp of surprise to come from Maria when she felt the plants starting to squeeze. In response, she started to try and push outward to keep herself from becoming crushed, but that only slowed the squeezing down slightly. Robin, on the other hand, simply grunted as she struggled with the vines that were keeping her in place.

"It looks like that little girl's controlling the plants...looks like I'm just going to have to teach her a lesson!" Usopp started forward, only for Sanji to plant a foot on top of his head.

"Lay one hand on that little girl and I'll make you regret it," the cook growled. He moved away from Usopp and charged at the plants, roaring.

"Sanji!" Maria called in alarm as the cook started to kick at the vines.

"Let go of Robin and Maria, you stupid plant!" Sanji barked.

"Yeah, let's show this shrub who's boss!" Usopp added, recovering from getting knocked on the head. He started hitting the vines with his slingshot while Sanji continued kicking.

Robin smiled at the sight. Maria, on the other hand, looked slightly concerned.

"I sure hope they're going to do more than that," Maria muttered.

"Are your friends really that important to you?" Lil spoke up.

Maria looked back down at Lil as Robin nodded.

"Yes," Robin stated. "They're here for us and our pride."

"You mean the Straw Hat pirate flag."

"Bingo," Maria grunted. She could feel the vines easing off a little bit, and so long as she was able to breathe, she wasn't about to try and do anything more. It was pretty clear that the plant was kinda-sorta stronger than she was at this point, so her only chance at escape was Lil letting them go.

"It's strange...Papa always seems to happy with his collection of pirate flags, but...not me." Lil lowered her head. "I never really cared that much about them."

"Right." Robin seemed to lean forward. "To most people, a simple flag wouldn't be that important. But...for pirates like us, it is. Even more important than our lives. There's no way we'd ever let it go."

Lil paused, considering this. Maria hoped that it would be enough to let them go and find the flag and get out before Luffy noticed.

"If it means so much to you," Lil finally stated, "then I--"

The little girl was cut off by a sudden explosion. Maria stiffened when she felt the entire room shake.

"Oh, no!" Lil turned, looking around the greenhouse. "This is bad! Papa is really angry!"

"That came from your papa?" Maria asked, startled.

"Help me!" Usopp was suddenly lifted up by the vines and stuffed into what looked like a flower of some kind.

Maria's eyes widened in alarm when she saw what was happening to Usopp. "Hey! Let him go!"

"I wouldn't do that, if I were you!" Sanji called up. "Eating him will give you indigestion!"

A second, stronger tremor shook the room, causing the glass dome to shake rapidly before a portion of it broke free and started to fall...right above Lil.

"Lil!" Robin exclaimed in alarm.

At the same time, Usopp let out what sounded like a muted yell right before an explosion happened inside the flower; he was let go in an instant, covered in soot and gasping for breath. The explosion seemed to do the trick, because the vines suddenly loosened around Maria and Robin.

Robin quickly crossed her arms and caused her arms to sprout out of the ground and throw the glass away from where Lil was. Maria instinctively summoned her phoenix staff at the same time and blasted two of the larger chunks into smaller pieces with two well-aimed Fire-Spheres.

Maria hit the ground in a crouch and watched as Robin moved over to the unharmed, terrified Lil and helped her get to her feet. She blinked a couple times out of surprise when Lil suddenly turned and hugged Robin tightly.

"It's okay now," Robin stated calmly as Maria came over. "You're safe."

"Y-y-you saved me!" Lil exclaimed in surprise, moving out of the hug to look at Robin. "Both of you did!" She looked over at Maria, who shifted her grip on her staff as she gave a half-shrug.

"If anything happened to you, big sister Robin would be sad," Robin stated in response. "Gotta keep my precious little sister safe."

Maria felt a pang in her chest when Robin said this, and a quick vision flashed through her mind of a blur of purple. She wondered if there was anyone in her past that she felt the same way about.

"Don't you see, Lil?" Robin continued. "You're not alone. You've never been. Treasure your family."

That statement got Maria a quick headache and a second view of a flash of purple, only this time it was accompanied by the face of a girl that looked strangely familiar...before she could grasp at the features of the girl, however, the memory was gone.

"Maria, come on. Let's go get our flag back."

Maria shook her head as her mind cleared and Robin spoke. She gave a nod in response. "Right." She looked over at Lil again and offered the girl a small smile before running after Sanji -- who was dragging a stunned Usopp -- and Robin.

"You remember which way it is to that flag room?" Maria let go of her phoenix staff, allowing it to disappear in a shower of sparks.

"I do," Robin responded. She pointed ahead to a turn in the corridor. "It's going to be on our right up ahead."

"Good." Sanji gave a nod. "The sooner we can get our flag back, the better." He gave Usopp's feet a yank, throwing him up in the air and causing him to land on his feet. Surprisingly, Usopp didn't look like he had any soot on his head anymore -- or dazed, for that matter.

"You could have given me some warning that you were going to do that," Usopp growled, stumbling for a moment before he managed to get his footing. He quickly moved to stay in step with Maria.

Sanji snorted in response. "Like you needed one."

"There! That open doorway!" Robin quickly dashed ahead of the others; Maria looked at the archeologist in surprise when she saw the burst of speed the woman had suddenly exhibited.

"All right!" Sanji gave a grin, and the group turned sharply and ran inside.

The sight that greeted them made Maria nearly stop in the doorway out of surprise.

There were four figures standing among scattered rubble from two large holes in the wall and the ceiling; two of them were Phoenix Pirates -- the little boy, Giro, and what looked like the captain of the crew -- and Zoro and Chopper, surprisingly. And the two smaller figures were holding black squares of fabric....

"Chopper!" Sanji, Usopp, and Robin exclaimed together as they ran in. Considering that Maria's view had been blocked by them as she had entered the room, she didn't know why exactly it was that they had been yelling.

Then again, she didn't exactly care at this point, so long as they were starting to get back together. However, she was wondering about where exactly Zoro had been hiding for so long....

"Hey, guys!" Chopper greeted, looking delighted. "Look!" He unfurled the black fabric that he had in his hooves. "I got our flag back before Luffy!"

"Just in time," Zoro smirked.

"All right!" Sanji exclaimed while Usopp let out a sigh of relief. "Now there's nothing Luffy can say about--"

"Uh, guys?" Maria interrupted, a nervous expression coming over her features. "That doesn't look like our flag."

The amnesiac pointed at the flag that Chopper had just finished unfurling...showing a green hat and a smiling skull that most _certainly_ wasn't theirs.

"No!" Usopp wailed. "You've gotta be kidding me!"

The resounding gasps -- and the look of surprise on Robin's face -- clearly said that this wasn't a good thing.

"Our flag was right in front of me!" Chopper yelped. "How could this have happened?!"

"Maybe it's got something to do with why there's a hole in the wall and the ceiling?" Maria asked, looking up at the blue sky.

"Looks like we're right back to where we started," Robin commented, sighing.

Maria's fingers twitched. She felt like she could to do something, but she really didn't know what to do.

"Come on, Robin, can't you link a bunch of your arms together to reach those flags?" Zoro asked impatiently.

"Yes, but I can't tell which flag is ours; they're too small." Robin frowned.

"Crap!" Usopp gripped his head. "What are we going to do now?"

Sanji groaned, glaring up at the hole in the sky and the black pirate flags beyond there. "Looks like we're screwed."

"We'd better not be," Maria muttered, frowning at the sky above them. Her eyes narrowed when she caught sight of something flashing above them.

"Hey, wait!" Chopper rubbed his eyes. "Look, guys!"

Maria looked down at the reindeer for a moment, then back up at the sky. Her frown turned into an expression of confusion and surprise when she finally saw what it was that Chopper had seen.

"Is that a flying fish?" Maria asked, blinking in surprise.

"Looks like it," Robin commented in reply, sounding like she wasn't believing it, either.

The bird-like creature flew down, twittering loudly through the pirate flag it had stuck in its beak. Everyone stiffened up as it flew over their heads and dropped the flag on Chopper.

"Hey! Can't breathe!" Chopper pulled the flag off and furled it out before an expression of surprise came over his face. "Hey! This is our flag!"

Usopp, Zoro, Sanji, and Giro grabbed the corners and pulled the flag taut so that the design could be could be clearly seen. There came sounds of laughter and relief from the crew -- Maria herself felt a wide grin come over her face.

"It's our flag!" Sanji called in relief.

"We finally got our flag!" Usopp cried. Chopper leapt up and hugged the long-nosed teenager around his neck, and the two became a blobbering, crying mess.

Giro chuckled, rubbing a tear away from one of his eyes. "Good for you, Doctor."

The comment caused Chopper to launch himself at Giro, laughing in delight.

Maria chuckled at the sight, relief appearing on her face. She looked over at Robin, smiling, only to frown slightly when she saw that she had her arms crossed like she was using her ability.

"Thank you, Lil," Robin murmured quietly, smiling slightly.

"Lil...?" Maria looked around, but she didn't catch sight of the little girl anywhere.

"Hey, Robin, Maria!" Sanji looked over at the two. "We've gotta get out of here! Now that we've got the flag, there's no reason to hang around here anymore."

"Right," Maria and Robin answered at once. The two exchanged glances and smirked.

"Let's move out!" Usopp declared, thrusting a fist into the air. "Next stop, the Sunny!"

Everyone started to move, running out of the room as fast as they could.

** Time Break **

Maria and the others came out of the building, running across the ice and out into the cold. The amnesiac felt the cold wash over her for a second before fading as they ran...but something wasn't right about it.

She found out a moment later when the group came to a stop in front of an obstacle.

"What's that?" Sanji asked, looking at the mess below.

"What the hell?" Usopp yelled in alarm. "What's going on?!"

"That's a _lot_ of magma," Maria commented, blinking.

"Look over there!" Chopper, wearing the Straw Hat pirate flag like a cape.

"Luffy?!" Usopp exclaimed in alarm.

Maria blinked a couple times before she looked down at the pool of magma again, frowning. "What is that he's standing on?"

"Hey!" Chopper started waving. "Look, Luffy! We've got the fl--"

Sanji put a hand over Chopper's mouth and lifted him up to keep a better grip on him; Usopp grabbed the flag and turned quickly to keep it out of Luffy's line of sight.

"Hey!" Luffy's voice rocketed up to them. "What do you guys think you're doing up there, huh?"

Usopp let out a panicked squeak. "Oh, no! He saw us!" He looked down at the group. "Great. Now what?"

"Well," Maria started.

"Everyone!"

The groups' head turned, and Maria caught sight of Nami running towards them.

"Hurry! Let's head back to the ship!" Nami yelled.

"Right," Sanji muttered. Usopp nodded in agreement, and they turned and ran off, leading the rest of the crew. Maria trailed after them, staying in step with Nami.

"What's going on with all the molten rock?" Maria asked, looking over at the navigator.

"Hey, guys, where are you going?" Luffy yelled after them. "I wanted to ask you guys about our flag! Hey!"

Maria heard the noise of what sounded like rubber, and she wondered what exactly it was that Luffy was doing.

"I'll explain later," Nami responded quickly. "Listen, guys, we have to stick to the plan. We can't let him know the truth!"

"Hey! Come back here!"

"He's right behind us!" Usopp yelled in warning, looking back. Maria decided against looking back, even though she desperately wanted to.

"Stop! Wait! Why are you running? What about our flag?!"

"Luffy sounds mad," Maria commented, frowning.

Her comment was drowned out by the others chanting, "Sorry, can't hear you! Sorry, can't hear you!"

It didn't take them too long to get to the edge of the iceberg. Maria caught sight of a familiar ship in the distance and felt relief running through her.

"Hey, you're back!" Franky waved from the _Sunny._ "Hurry it up!"

"We're hurrying already," Maria commented, frowning.

"Hey, you guys!"

"He's almost here!" Usopp yelped, glancing back with a terrified expression. "What's the plan?"

"Sanji, Zoro," Nami stated.

"Aye aye," the swordsman and the cook stated at once in reply, clapping their hands on Usopp's shoulders. "Let's do it."

Usopp gained a nervous expression.

"Guys...?" Maria asked cautiously, frowning.

A moment later, Sanji kicked Usopp into the air, sending him screaming all the way. Zoro was sent up to that height a moment later, gripping his swords.

"What are you going to do?" Maria asked, looking over at Sanji as he relaxed.

"The fastest thing we can do." Sanji shrugged. "Send Usopp over there so that he can hang it there. He'll get there faster than Luffy will get here."

Usopp was sent flying, screaming at the top of his lungs as Zoro came back down.

"Franky!" Nami called.

"Leave it to me!" Franky called back. "Coup de Boo!"

Maria flinched when she heard the noise that followed. "Is that...a fart?" She gained an expression of disgust.

Nami shrugged. "Well, considering the situation, it's really the best we can do at this point."

There came the sound of pounding feet, but that soon came to a stop. "Hey, what are you guys doing? You let our flag get stolen! We need to hurry and get it back!"

"Stolen? The flag?" Nami, Robin, Sanji, and Zoro turned around as the navigator spoke; Maria was a bit slower, and she didn't have a smile on her face. She was looking down at Chopper instead, and wondered when it was that Sanji was going to remove his hand from the poor reindeer's mouth.

"You probably just had a bad dream or something," Sanji commented. "Right?" He looked over at Zoro, whose exaggerated smile looked like it _didn't_ belong there."

"Uh...right," Zoro responded, looking like he was about to be sick, what with the large grin that was on his face. "Yeah, that's it."

The cook and the swordsman laughed nervously, sending chills up and down Maria's spine. That sound did _not_ sound like it should be coming from the two of them.

"Here, see for yourself," Robin stated, motioning back towards the ship.

It took all of Maria's focus to not turn and look back at the ship.

Luffy's eyes moved up, and his frown turned into an expression of surprised confusion. "What the...it's right over there, same as always."

Maria felt her shoulders relax. _Good, Usopp got it up there...._

"Stupid clone guy, he lied to me," Luffy muttered, a scowl coming over his face.

"A clone?" Maria repeated, confused.

The question was ignored, and a smile came over Luffy's face. "Sorry I doubted you."

"It's okay, no worries," Nami and the others responded. Chopper still had a hand over his mouth, and Maria didn't decide to say anything; instead, she gave a slight smile and kept her mouth shut.

At least, until another thought came to mind.

"Hey, we should probably get onto the ship," Maria spoke up. "The look of all that magma over where you were earlier didn't look all that friendly."

That seemed to snap everyone back to their normal selves, and they exchanged glances before looking back at the ship.

Luffy gained a wide grin. "That's no problem!" He drew his arms back, stretching them out. As soon as the others saw that, well...they started to get a little nervous and annoyed.

"You just _had_ to go and say something," Zoro growled to Maria, glaring at the teenager.

"Well, it was a valid question," Maria retorted.

"Gum Gum Rocket!"


	58. Leaving "Lovely Land"

Maria and the others were quick to recover from Luffy sending them flying across the water and onto the _Sunny_ , Zoro and Nami sending the amnesiac glares because it was her who got Luffy to send them all flying in the first place.

"You're gonna pay for that later," Nami muttered as she dusted off her jacket.

Maria let out a sigh and shrugged in response. "Well, it's not like we have any lifeboats or anything, remember? If we did, we probably wouldn't have to worry about being sent flying everywhere."

If Nami was going to say anything in response to that, it was quickly cut off short by the sound of something very large breaking apart.

"Hey, look!" Usopp scrambled over to the deck railing, causing the others to look over in his direction. "I don't know what's happening, but I know I don't like it!"

Maria blinked a couple times upon hearing that, then followed Nami over to the deck railing in order to get a closer look at what it was Usopp was looking at. Her eyes widened a moment later.

"What's happening to the ice?" Maria asked, watching in surprise and confusion as the ice they had been standing on a moment ago cracked and rose upward.

"Accino went nuts with his heat powers," Nami explained, "causing the volcano under the ocean floor to become active!"

"Volcano?" Maria repeated, looking at the navigator. "Well, that explains where all the magma came from."

Nami nodded. "We need to hurry and get out of here before this thing erupts!"

"Right," Luffy agreed. "Then let's set sail -- move it!"

"Aye aye!" Everyone on the crew responded at once.

The deck became alive with movement as some scrambled for the wheel while others climbed up into the crow's nest or remained on the main deck, watching the waters around them as the _Sunny_ moved away from Lovely Land.

Maria moved over to stand next to Robin on the back deck as the ship moved forward. "What do you think's gonna happen to Lil?"

"I don't know," Robin replied. A flash of worry appeared on her face for a moment, but that disappeared soon after. "I'm sure that her family managed to rescue her before the volcano erupted. I doubt they would be heartless enough to leave her behind."

As soon as those words had slipped past Robin's lips, a blast of molten rock suddenly rose up from the ocean floor, blasting away the ice and causing it to melt pretty quickly.

Maria could feel the blast of heat that came from the magma's explosion, and wondered if she would have been able to survive a blast like that.

It wasn't too long before the others on the ship joined Maria and Robin on the back deck.

"The whole island...it's gone." Usopp let out a sigh of relief. "That was a close one."

"Straw Hat!"

Maria stiffened when she heard the unfamiliar voice coming from somewhere behind them. She looked over at Luffy, who had gained what appeared to be a look of annoyance.

"Clone guy," Luffy muttered. He turned without another word and dashed for the front of the ship. The rest of the crew followed after him in order to see what exactly it was that was ahead of them.

Maria came to a stop on the back deck before even going down the stairs, blinking a couple times when she saw what looked like an iceberg in their way. And, on top of it, there was a small group of people -- most of them armed with what looked like harpoons.

And the one in front, with a blue sleeveless shirt, was speaking.

"I swear upon the honor of the Accino Family you and your crew will never escape!" the man roared. Maria took the time that he was yelling to dash across the main deck and join the others at the front of the ship.

"Get lost, you annoying clone twin guy!" Luffy barked at the man on the iceberg.

"Clone twin guy?" Maria repeated. "So _this_ is who you were talking about earlier...."

"I'll make you pay for what you did to Papa," the man on the iceberg continued. However, before he could even make a move, another ship suddenly came up on the _Sunny's_ left.

"Cappacino!" roared a figure standing on the deck of the other ship. Maria was surprised to see that it was the ship that they had run into at the start of the entire mess.

"What?!" the man in blue -- Cappacino -- looked over at the other ship. "It's that Puzzle!"

The ship with the phoenix figurehead rammed into the iceberg.

"I'll be your opponent," Puzzle continued. "You and I have a score to settle! Hey, Straw Hat!" He turned and looked down at the _Sunny._ "This guy is mine, so stay out of it!"

"He is?" Luffy repeated in confusion.

"You go on ahead," Puzzle continued, smirking. "And be prepared to face me when we meet again! In the New World!"

Maria looked up at the red-head standing on the other ship in surprise. He was going to the New World, too? Well, _that_ was going to be interesting.

Luffy gained a grin. "Right. I'll be ready for you."

"Damn you!" Cappacino sounded mad -- maybe it was because he was being ignored? "Die!" He leapt off the top of the iceberg -- followed closely by the other figures.

"Let's go!" Puzzle jumped off the front of his ship, followed by other members of his crew that Maria quickly recognized.

The fight quickly ensued on the side of the iceberg, but Maria wasn't able to watch it for long, because the _Sunny_ continued right on past the iceberg.

"Giro!" Chopper called out in concern. He looked back at Luffy. "Luffy, turn around! We have to go back and help them! They're gonna get themselves killed!"

"You're wrong," Luffy replied simply. "Take a look, Chopper. They won't lose -- they're doing better than ever." He turned and looked at the sunset ahead of them.

Maria blinked a couple times when she heard that, and then something clicked in her mind. "Right; they've got their flag back, and they're captain's back on his feet." She looked back at the iceberg, and she caught sight of Giro slamming a broom down on the head of an Accino goon, and a green came onto her face.

"Hey! You!" The familiar voice of Stansen came across the water. "What are you waiting around for? Hurry up and leave!"

"Bye!" Giro's voice added. "I'll see you in the New World, Doctor!"

"Bye!" Chopper called back. "Until then, Giro!"

"Nami, full speed ahead!" Luffy ordered. "Set course for the New World!"

"YEAH!!!" came the resounding response from everyone on the crew.

Maria gave a wide grin and a laugh. She was looking forward to reaching the second half of the Grand Line, and hoped that they wouldn't end up running into any more trouble before then.

**Maria's Memory Journal: Notes**

I've got enough of my Pokemon memories back that it's just some of the small stuff at the beginning and end that I have to worry about.

When my memories _start_ , I seem to be in a world where time and space have gotten wonky. Where was I before then? What drove me to trust Grovyle so much right off the bat?

_(there is a picture drawn in the margins of a green, lizard-like creature with a long leaf growing out of the top of its head and a strange smirk on its face. It's not professional material, but it provides a visual aid for what this "Grovyle" looks like)_

And why did Dialga turn me back to when I was ten when I started journeying around as a Trainer? I don't really see too much of a problem with me being sixteen and traveling into adulthood...which makes me way older than I look. Don't like that idea too much -- just sticking to the idea that I'm probably about eighteen -- no older.

Graagh, time travel gives me a headache....

And then there's the whole problem that happened in Sunnyshore...I know that I beat the remains of Team Galactic, but it feels like there was something else there that I ended up fighting -- maybe helping, too. After that, everything's clear as day...until I'm relaxing one day after defeating the Elite Four and Champion Trainers...again. What happened after that?

Why do I have so many holes in my memory, anyway? I didn't think that the storm and Airam would have done enough damage to me to cause that....

_(the following few pages have sketches of strange creatures that look almost monstrous. The notes that accompany them include size comparisons, with names next to each creature: Maria (me, Vulpix); Pika (Pikachu); Dialga; Dusk (Darkrai); Luke (Lucario). There's a circular badge with wings drawn between "Maria" and "Pika." Underneath the same two creatures, there's written the words "Team PokeExplore Founders."_

_One page is dedicated solely to strange creatures that appear to be mixes between humans and animals. Names and a short list of abilities are included here: Sonic the Hedgehog, superspeed; Knuckles the Echidna, super strength; Miles "Tails" Prower, flight; Shadow the Hedgehog, Chaos Energy user; Pokemon Ranger Scarlet, combo of Team Heroes; Magenta, combo of Knuckles and Shadow; Pokemon Ranger Keith "Midnight", combo of Sonic and Shadow. NO ZOAN DEVIL FRUITS!_

_Then come a drawing of seven gems arranged in a circle, with a larger gem in the center)_

Whatever I do in the future, I can NOT tell Nami about the Chaos and Master Emeralds on purpose. She is going to get very interested in hunting them down and stealing them, and Sonic and Knuckles wouldn't appreciate that if they were taken by one of my crewmates....

What would they think of me becoming a pirate, I wonder? Scarlet would probably yell at me for going to the other side of the law...maybe Sonic would understand...and Pika? I'm not exactly sure what he would think of me.

**Maria's Abilities as of this point (note: all moves in previous "levels of power" can be accessed in the later ones):**

**Level Zero -- Flash Fire**

**Level One -- Phoenix staff**

**Level Two -- Fire Sphere, Fire Spin, Fire Blast, Fire Slash, Lightning Shield, Icy Wind**


End file.
